Dr. Jim Patchell – a 20-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year and the winningest track and field coach in program history – is entering his 14
th season in 2024-25 directing the Arkansas State men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs.
A native of Heber Springs, Patchell took the helm at his alma mater in 2011 and specifically coaches the sprints and hurdles athletes, as well as the horizontal jumpers. Since his arrival, the Red Wolves have won a school-record combined 29 conference titles between men’s and women’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field. In his tenure, A-State has finished no lower than fifth in all but one of the four track and field championships contested each year.
Most recently, Patchell was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame in the class of 2024, becoming the program's 12th inductee into the hall.
During his tenure, A-State has established 57 current school records in men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field. Since 2014, A-State has earned 25 Sun Belt Conference Indoor/Outdoor postseason awards including: most outstanding track performer, most outstanding field performer, freshman of the year and newcomer of the year. In that span, A-State has had 16 individuals qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, while 36 have competed in the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Red Wolves have seen success at the NCAA Championships under Patchell’s guidance. Sharika Nelvis (2011-14) became A-State's first women's individual national champion and was a top three finalist for The Bowerman, also an A-State and Sun Belt Conference first. A three-time USTFCCA All-America sprinter and hurdler, Nelvis was both the 2014 NCAA Division I outdoor national 100-meter hurdles champion and indoor national 60-meter hurdles champion. In total, A-State has totaled 47 USTFCCCA All-America performances since Patchell took over the program, 32 outdoors and 15 indoors.
In 2023-24, A-State captured its fifth consecutive sweep of the SBC Indoor team titles, while Bradley Jelmert (2nd place) and Colby Eddowes (7th) earned First Team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Outdoors saw the Red Wolves place third on the men's side and fifth in the women's team standings.
The 2022-23 season marked one of the best seasons in Arkansas State track and field history, as the men’s team completed its first-ever Sun Belt Triple Crown. A-State won five of six possible conference titles, with women’s cross country earning a runner-up finish. The Red Wolves’ women’s team boasted multiple First Team All-Americans for the first time in program history, as Pauline Meyer (3000-meter steeplechase) and Camryn Newton-Smith (heptathlon) finished eighth in their respective events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Newton-Smith also competed in the pentathlon to earn honorable mention All-America honors.
After being elevated to Director of Track and Field and Cross Country prior to the season, Patchell’s squads continued to stand among the league’s best. A-State captured five of six possible league crowns for the second year in a row in the 2021-22 season, sweeping the cross country and indoor track and field championships, while the women’s team won its third straight outdoor crown. Pauline Meyer took the individual women’s crown in cross country, while Lexington Hilton helped the A-State men place a program-best third at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships. Hilton placed eighth individually to earn a bid to the national championship meet. Bennett Pascoe returned to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the steeplechase and earned second-team All-American honors. The Red Wolves swept the indoor championships for the third consecutive year, moving him past Jay Flanagan for the most conference championships in program history.
The Red Wolves continued their run of success in the 2020-21 campaign, placing third in men’s cross country before winning the remaining five league titles. Under his guidance the women made history by taking the program’s first Sun Belt Conference Triple Crown. On the national stage, a program-record 17 student-athletes competed at the NCAA West Prelims, with two advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and one (Bennett Pascoe) competing at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
A-State’s women’s cross country squad captured their second conference title and first since 2013 in 2019. In the 2020 season – which was halted in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic – Patchell guided the Red Wolves to a sweep of the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships, marking the first time since 1998 that A-State had accomplished such a feat. The Red Wolves were also the first Sun Belt program to sweep the indoor championships since 2010. Camryn Newton-Smith qualified for the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships, which were canceled a day before competition due to the pandemic.
Boasting a men’s and women’s roster of primarily underclassmen, Patchell guided the A-State programs to first or second in the team standings both indoors and outdoors for the men’s and women’s team championships. The A-State women earned the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championship with 88 of the 155 points scored coming from freshmen and sophomores. A-State sent a combined 16 athletes to the NCAA West Region Preliminary with three, two men and one woman, advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Pole vaulter Michael Carr broke Earl Bell’s 1976 school record with a clearance of 5.67m (18-7.25) to finish sixth for First Team All-America honors. Sophomore Carter Shell made his second-straight appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and finished 14th for Second Team All-America honors. On the track, Caitland Smith capped her career earning All-America honors in both the 100 and 200-meter dash.
The 2017-18 season saw the Red Wolves men earn both the indoor and outdoor conference title for the second time in program history. Sprinter Jaylen Bacon capped off his stellar career as a five-time All-America honoree and nine-time Sun Belt Conference individual champion. Bacon was recognized as the USTFCCCA 2018 NCAA Division I South Central Region Men’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year joining Sharika Nelvis (2014) as the only A-State student-athletes to win that honor. Bacon was among a single-season program-record seven athletes that advanced to the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Bacon was among 13 individual conference champions as the Red Wolves accounted for eight outdoor individual champions and five indoors.
A-State sent a then-school record six individuals to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2017. All six earned All-America status with Bacon taking first team honors in both the 100 and 200-meter dash. Bacon and thrower Erin Farmer also earned All-America honors indoors in the 2017 season. Bacon’s bronze medal finish in the 60-meter dash at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships marked just the second podium finish by an A-State male athlete at those championships.
For the first time since 2005, A-State claimed the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship. Bacon, the Sun Belt Most Outstanding Track Athlete, was the high point scorer with 22.5 points while Roelf Pienaar won the Sun Belt Most Outstanding Field Athlete for his gold medals in both the long and triple jumps. The Red Wolves saw 14 athletes, eight men and six women, qualify for the NCAA West Region Preliminary with four, two men and two women, advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Pienaar took silver medal in the long jump for the highest finish by an A-State athlete since 1990.
The 2015 season saw many firsts for the A-State program. The women won their first outdoor conference title since 2001 while the men claimed an indoor conference crown for the first time since 2007. Pienaar and thrower Richard Chvez earned All-America honors both indoors and outdoors while pole vaulter Ethan Sandusky garnered All-America accolades outdoors. A-State swept the Most Outstanding Freshmen and Pienaar was named Sun Belt Conference Most Outstanding Field Performer both indoors and outdoors.
Highlighted by two National Championships by Nelvis, the 2014 season saw the Red Wolves burst onto the national scene. Nelvis a finalist for the prestigious Bowerman Trophy, was a NCAA Woman of the Year nominee and winner of the Honda Sports Award as the top women’s track and field athlete. Nelvis ended her career as a 24-time Sun Belt Conference individual champion winning 13 indoor titles and 11 outdoors.
BEFORE A-STATE
Responsible for building the track and field program at Campbell into one of the best in the Atlantic Sun Conference, Patchell led the Camels men’s team to at least a third-place finish each of the last five years at the conference outdoor championships. He also led the men’s squad to a third-place finish the last three years at the conference’s indoor championships while the women’s team collected fourth place in 2010.
Over his final five seasons at Campbell, 47 Camels won A-Sun championships in an individual event, including 10 in 2011. During Patchell’s eight-year tenure as head coach at Campbell, the Camels broke 44 school records. His student-athletes performed well in the classroom as well, recording a 99% graduation rate. He was also instrumental in a fund-raising campaign for a new $1.2 million track and field facility that was completed in May 2010.
Prior to his time at Campbell, Patchell spent the previous three years (2000-03) as an assistant coach at Tulane. While at Tulane, Patchell coached both the men's and women's jumpers, hurdlers and multi-event athletes for each of his three seasons, helping to elevate the Green Wave to a national ranking. He also assumed responsibility for the cross country program and distance events during the 2002-03 campaign.
He helped lead Tulane to two Conference USA team championships, and the Green Wave sent 12 student-athletes to the NCAA Championships during his tenure. Patchell also coached two All-America selections at Tulane.
Patchell also served as men's assistant track coach at Arkansas from 1996-99, coaching pole vaulters and multi-event athletes. He finished coaching at UA in the spring of 1999 before exclusively teaching exercise science in the fall of 1999. During his tenure with the Razorbacks, Arkansas won seven national championships - one in cross country, three in indoor track, and three in outdoor track.
Patchell graduated from Arkansas State in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. While at A-State, he was a sprinter and hurdler for the track and field team under head coach Jay Flanagan. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater in 1994 and assisted with the training and coaching of sprinters and hurdlers. Patchell earned his M.S. in exercise science from Arkansas State in 1995.
Patchell then moved on to Arkansas, where in addition to his coaching duties, he served as a graduate instructor in the physical education department while working on a doctorate degree. Patchell completed his Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the University of Arkansas in December of 2007.
He is married to the former Dawn Politte and they have one son, Lane.
PATCHELL’S GOALS FOR ARKANSAS STATE CROSS COUNTRY AND TRACK & FIELD
- Top-25 national ranking on an annual basis
- Content for every Sun Belt Conference Championship and win share of titles
- Develop and recruit quality student-athletes who excel both academically and athletically.
| Coaching Record |
|
College
|
Coaching Experience
|
| Arkansas State, Head Coach |
2011-present |
| Campbell, Head Coach |
2003-11 |
| Tulane, Assistant Coach |
2000-03 |
| Arkansas, Assistant Coach |
1996-99 |
| Arkansas State, Graduate Assistant Coach |
1994-95 |
