Dan Nehnevaj is entering into his third year with the coaching staff at Tech, and his sixth year as a Golden Bear.
He ran cross-country and track on both coasts of the country in college. He started his career on the West Coast at his local community college in Vancouver, WA where he had the honor of being mentored by Robert Williams, a Steeplechaser who ran at the University of Oregon at the same time as the late Steve Prefontaine; Williams learned his coaching craft from both Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger, and Dan was grateful to learn insights into how the D1 powerhouse trained from him.
After a successful community college career at Clark College, Dan went on to WVU Tech where, with the help of Jeremy Bloom and Bruce Cox, he matured as a runner. At Tech, Dan individually qualified for Nationals in every season except one that he competed for the Golden Bears. By the time Dan graduated he was an 8-time All-Conference Athlete, 6-time RSC Champion, 5-time NAIA National qualifier, 2-time NAIA All-American, and the 2020 Indoor National Champion in the 3k Racewalk. He has continued to train for the racewalk; In his first 2 years racing at the 20k distance (the short Olympic distance) Dan was 2nd at the 2021 US Olympic Team Trials, and was a member Team USA at the first ever World Championship on US soil in Eugene, Oregon.
As an assistant, Dan helped guide both the men and women Golden Bears win the cross-country conference championships in 2020. He continued to help Golden Bears see success throughout the track seasons, with 1 NAIA Individual Champion, 3 NAIA All-Americans, and 7 NAIA Individual National Qualifiers. There were also numerous All-Conference performances and Individual Conference Champions as well.
In his time away from coaching Dan focuses on picking up prize money from the various US National Racewalk Championships; outside of work he enjoys spending time with his dog, Beckley, and exploring the backwoods of West Virginia by foot and bike.
