Dan Waters - Track & Field, Cross Country Coach

Dan Waters

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
dwaters@ia.ua.edu
Phone:
205-348-3557

Since taking over and unifying the Alabama men’s and women’s track and field/cross country program in June of 2011, Dan Waters has completely remade and revitalized the Crimson Tide. Over his first decade at the helm, The Crimson Tide has made extraordinary strides, transforming into one of the nation’s best overall programs, featuring top student-athletes in all disciplines and teams that can score from anywhere on the track.

The 2020-21 season was an extraordinary example of the overall success that Waters and his staff have cultivated at The University of Alabama. In a year that was vastly different due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Crimson Tide kept its focus and battled through to amazing results.

The women’s cross country team vaulted to second at the Southeastern Conference Championships and went on to make its first appearance at the NCAA Championships since 1994. Powered by Mercy Chelangat’s NCAA title, the Tide women took eighth place, the second-highest finish in team history after sixth-place finish in 1988. It was the second top-10 team finish in program history. In addition to winning UA’s first individual NCAA cross country title, she won its first Honda Award for Cross Country, was named the USTFCCCA Cross Country Athlete and Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was one of three UA All-Americans.

During the indoor season, Amaris Tyynismaa, Jami Reed, Christal Mosley and Lauren Turner set the SEC record on the way to winning the distance medley relay title while Isaac Odugbesan won the men’s shot put at the SEC Championships after breaking a 40+ year old school record. On the national front the men took seventh and the women were 16th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, with 20 student-athletes earned 22 All-America titles. It was the men's fourth top-10 indoor finish in a row and highest finish since taking sixth in 2014 and the women's sixth top-20 finish since 2013. Eliud Kipsang led the way for the men with a second-place finish in the mile, while Tamara Clark led the women with a second-place finish in the 200 meters.

Alabama went into the 2021 outdoor season on roll. At the SEC Championships, the men took second and the women third. It was the men's best SEC outdoor finish since also finishing second in 1985 and the highest for the women since winning the title since 1994. Chelangat (5,000/10,000 meters) and Clark (100/200 meters) won two events each to pace the women, while Vincent Kiprop (10,000 meters/3,000-meter steeplechase), Robert Dunning (110-meter hurdles) and Odugbesan (shot put) all won individual events to lead the men. Chelangat’s wins both came in SEC championship-record times.

At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the women posted their best finish in 30+ year, making it to the podium with a fourth-place finish, paced by a pair of top-three finishes from Clark (100/200 meters) and a pair of top-five finishes from Chelangat (5,000/10,000 meters). Dunning exploded to the NCAA title in the 110-meter hurdles to propel the UA men to 13th place, their fourth-consecutive top-15 finish. Overall, Alabama finished the outdoor season with 26 student-athletes earning 34 All-America certificates.

During the summer of 2021, 13 past and present Crimson Tide athletes competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials with three, Quanesha Burks (long jump), Daniel Haugh (hammer) and Shelby McEwen (high jump) earning a spot on Team USA. In all, nine past and present Crimson Tide track and field athletes took part in the Tokyo Olympiad, including eight that competed for UA during the Waters era. Two of those nine earned medals including Remona Burchell (gold/Jamaica/4x100-meter relay) and Kirani James (bronze/Grenada/400 meters).

Dan Waters Said

“Our focus at Alabama is to have a complete program, where everyone works tirelessly day-in and day-out to be their very best and to do things the right way, so that this program continues on its journey to national championships. I’m proud of the fact that at The University of Alabama we support each other and hold each other accountable as we strive for greatness. That means everyone – student-athletes, coaches and staff … throwers, jumpers, sprinters, distance – comes together to create a team like no other. That unity goes beyond the track and field/cross country program. If you look across the athletics department, we are all working to fulfill the Crimson Tide’s legacy as a championship program. Last season 18 our 21 teams advanced to national competition with 13 finishing in the top 25, with six, including women’s outdoor track and field, finishing in the top five nationally. That athletic success is balanced by extraordinary accomplishments in the classroom, where Alabama Athletics is the only school to tally double-digit Academic All-America honors each of the last eight years in a row, with a program record six coming from track and field/cross country last year. All that adds up to this - this is ‘Where Legends Are Made’ and at The University of Alabama, you can truly have it all.”

The Crimson Tide Under Waters

The Crimson Tide men captured the program's first USTFCCCA Program of the Year recognition in 2018, the honor is presented to the cross country and track & field program with the best combined finishes at the NCAA cross country (14th), indoor (9th) and outdoor (5th) championships
The Alabama women finished a program-best third in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year rankings in 2021 after finishing 8th in cross country, 16th indoors and 4th outdoors
At the NCAA Indoors, the men have finished in the top-10 the last four championships in a row and five of the last seven, taking as high as sixth during that span, while the women have posted six top-20 finishes over the past seven championships, including taking third in 2017, the Tide’s highest finish since 1994
At the NCAA Outdoors, the men have posted six top-15 finishes over the past eight championships, including a high of 5th in 2018, while the women have posted four top-20 finishes, taking fourth in 2021, its best placing since 1987
At the NCAA Cross Country Championships, the men have posted a pair of top-25 finishes, including a 14th-place finish in 2017, while the women returned to the championships for the first time since 1994 with an eighth-place finish in 2021, the second-highest placing in school history
In the 2019, the women finished seventh and the men were 10th at NCAA Outdoor Championships, marking the first time since 1986 that the Crimson Tide men and women finished in the top-10 in the same year, while the women finished seventh and the men eighth, giving both the UA men and women top-10 finishes at the indoor and outdoor national championships in the same season for the first time in school history
At the SEC Championships, the Tide men have posted 10 top-5 finishes between indoors and outdoors, winning the 2018 SEC indoor title, the men’s first 1972, while the women have posted four top-5 finishes since 2012, including a third-place finish at the 2021 outdoor championships, the women’s best conference finish since 1994
Individually, Alabama has produced 11 individual NCAA Championships with titles coming in cross country (Mercy Chelangat (2020-21), sprints (Diondre Batson –200m, 2014 (I); Remona Burchell, 60m, 2014 and 2015, 100m, 2015), jumps (Quanesha Burks – long jump, 2015 (O) and 2016 (I); Lakan Taylor – pole vault, 2017 (I); Shelby McEwen – high jump, 2019 (I)), throws (Hayden Reed – hammer throw, 2014) and hurdles (Robert Dunning – 110-meter hurdles, 2021)
Under Waters, Alabama has produced 77 individual All-Americans who have tallied 195 honors across cross country, indoor and outdoor, while 26 relay squads have earned All-America recognition on his watch
Waters was named the head track & field and cross country coach at Alabama on May 11, 2011, immediately hiring an all-star staff who helped reshape Crimson Tide cross country and track & field during their first season at the Capstone, successfully merging the men’s and women’s teams into a unified program that helped forge a new team environment and identity for the Crimson Tide
One of Waters’ first projects at Alabama was a multi-million dollar facelift of the Sam Bailey Track & Field Complex, which dramatically enhanced the functionality and capabilities of the facility, giving the Tide a highly impressive training and competition environment

In the Classroom

One of the finest honors of the Waters era was earned when the men’s track & field squad was named the 2014 Indoor Scholar Team of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA)
Alabama's cross country teams have been a mainstay on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team list under Waters, with both programs earning recognition every year since 2013. The women's track & field team has been honored 10 times during Waters' tenure (2012-21) while the men have made the list five times (2014, 2018-21)
Alabama has earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team honors 15 times since Water’s arrival, with the women going 10-for-10 (2012-21) and the men earning five honors (2014, 2018-21)
Individually, Hayden Reed was named the 2013-14 USTFCCCA Outdoor National Scholar Athlete of Year, while Mercy Chelangat was the 2020-21 USTFCCCA Cross Country National Scholar Athlete of Year
The Tide’s CoSIDA Academic All-America total has exploded during Waters' tenure with 14 student-athletes earning recognition a total of 21 times since 2012, including a program record six in 2021

Waters Prior to Alabama

Waters took over the Crimson Tide following a highly successful run as recruiting coordinator and distance coach at Texas A&M
During his tenure in College Station, Texas, the Aggies won six NCAA national championships, including three-straight men’s and women’s outdoor titles (2009, 2010 and 2011), the first program to accomplish that feat
The Aggie’s 2008 men’s squad became the first in 18 years that a team defeated powerhouse Arkansas for the regional cross country title
Waters tenure at A&M started in August 2004, after serving a three-year stint overseeing the distance program at the University of Georgia and five years at TCU in a similar capacity
Waters led the UGA men’s team to the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championship, as well as a team victory at the NCAA South Regional Championships
On the track, Water’s distance runners broke seven UGA records
At TCU, Waters helped the Horned Frogs win four Western Athletic Conference team championships - two in indoor track & field, one in outdoor track & field and one in cross country
During his stay in Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs notched four top-four NCAA team finishes and ranked No. 1 nationally by Trackwire.com in 2001
The 2000 WAC cross country and indoor track crowns were the first team conference titles in TCU history.
Athletes at TCU during Waters’ tenure included 1998 NCAA 800-meter champion Khadevis Robinson, a two-time U.S. Champion who competed in the 800 at the 2004 and 2012 Olympic Games
Waters began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Texas from 1995-96

All-American Career

Waters was an All-American and CoSIDA Academic All-American for the University of Kansas, earning All-America honors as part of the indoor 3,200-meter relay and Academic All-America recognition in 1995
He also won the 1992 Big Eight 800-meter title and was elected the Jayhawks’ team captain in 1993 and 1995
Waters earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Kansas in 1995