Award-Winning Dalzell Named Bruins’ Head Cross Country and Assistant Track Coach

NEWBERG, Ore. – Randy Dalzell, who built the Concordia University-Portland cross country and track and field programs from infancy to national prominence in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, has been named the new cross country head coach and an assistant track and field coach at George Fox University, beginning this fall.

Dalzell will assume the reins of the Bruin men’s and women’s cross country teams from Jeff Larson, who served as an associate head cross country coach under the direction of head coach John Smith, who has guided all four of the George Fox cross country and track and field programs for the last six years.  Smith will continue as the head coach of the track and field teams, with Dalzell as one of his assistants during the spring season with oversight of the Bruin middle and long distance runners, many of them from the cross country teams.

In addition to his coaching duties, Dalzell will serve in the health and human performance department at George Fox, teaching subjects such as lifetime fitness and tennis.

“We are excited about bringing Randy back in a full-time capacity as both a coach and an instructor,” said George Fox director of athletics Craig Taylor in announcing the hiring of Dalzell, “although we will certainly miss the outstanding services Jeff gave us as a part-time coach the past four-and-a-half years.  Randy’s record as a college coach and his knowledge of track and cross country are amazing, and we are glad to give him this opportunity to build a similar success story with the Bruins.  His strong Christian faith and his outstanding ability to relate to student-athletes make him an ideal fit for our institution and our athletic program as well.”

“I am looking forward to coming ‘full circle’ back to George Fox,” said Dalzell.  “My first college coaching experience was here in the early 1990’s, and then-coach Wes Cook was one of my early mentors who made a lot of impact on me.  My wife went to Fox, we were married in Newberg, our first child was born here, and my wife’s parents still live here.”

Coach Smith forms another connection to the university with the Bruins’ newest coach, who explained, “I was an assistant here during John’s first two years as a college athlete, and his first coaching experience was as an assistant with me for a year when I started the program at Cascade College in 1996-97.  We have been good friends ever since, I appreciate so much his hard work with the athletes here, and am looking forward to working with him again.”

When Dalzell was first approached for the George Fox position, he was immediately intrigued with the possibility, saying that “I thought it would be a great fit.  George Fox’s strong Christian background, the development of its athletic department, nice facilities, and strong reputation in general made it, in my mind, an attractive place to be.  It is a good family situation, we won’t have to move from our current home, and I am looking forward to teaching again.”

In his seven years at Concordia (2005-12), Dalzell led the Cavaliers to fifteen Cascade Collegiate Conference titles, winning  seven in a row in men's track & field, six in women's track & field, one in women’s cross country, and one in men's cross country, as well as the regional title in men's cross country in 2006. In 2011, the women’s outdoor track and field team won the NAIA National Championship while the men finished fifth. This past season, women’s outdoor track came in second in the nation, men's outdoor track finished fourth, men’s indoor track finished third , women’s indoor track was seventh, women’s cross country finished placed eighth, and men’s cross country finished 19th. This accounted for over 70% of the NAIA National Director’s Cup points for the university. 

Concordia was the third collegiate program Dalzell inaugurated, having also launched programs at Cascade College in 1997-99 and at Northwest Nazarene University, which he coached from 1999-2002.  At Concordia, he produced 24 NAIA individual national champions, 167 All-Americans, and 24 NAIA Scholar-Athletes. He was the NAIA Women’s Track and Field National Coach of the Year in 2011, and the National Christian College Athletic Association Men's Cross Country National Coach of the Year in 2001 after his men's team at NNNU won the NCCAA National Championship with all seven runners finishing in the top 14, making the entire team All-Americans.  He was named conference, regional, or national Coach of the Year a total of 23 times, 18 in seven years at Concordia and five times while at NNU. Including his Cascade College and Northwest Nazarene University years, Dalzell has coached a total of 187 All-Americans, 39 NAIA Scholar Athletes, and 24 individual national champions.

Also a successful high school coach with 10 years of track and field experience at that level, Dalzell developed a number of conference and state champions athletes. He was twice named Intermountain Conference Coach of the Year while at Bend (Ore.) High School.

Randy received a bachelor's degree with honors in secondary education/mathematics from Columbia Christian College in 1987, where he played basketball and soccer, earning an Academic All-America award, and was named the school's outstanding scholar-athlete. He did post-graduate studies at Abilene Christian University in biology, Oregon State University in exercise physiology, the University of Puget Sound in physical therapy, and Seattle Pacific University in education.  He attained his master of education degree from Linfield College in 1995, and is currently working on a doctorate in education leadership, which he hopes to complete at George Fox.

As a sidelight, Dalzell owns and operates the Athletic Transportation Services, LLC, providing charter bus transportation for numerous college sports teams in the area.  In his spare time, he enjoys running, playing “catch with the kids”, and coaching youth league basketball.

Dalzell lives in Damascus, Ore., with his wife Charlene and their three children: daughter Allison, age 16, son D.J., age 14, and son Matthew, age 12.  The Dalzells attend the Abundant Life Church in Happy Valley, Ore.