Alabama Track & Field Hires Will Palmer as Distance Coach
8/23/2018 1:19:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
Maryland native joins Crimson Tide after two successful seasons at Georgetown
 TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – University of Alabama track & field head coach Dan Waters announced the hiring of Will Palmer as the program's distance coach Thursday. Palmer comes to Alabama from Georgetown, where he spent the last two years working with the Hoyas' distance and middle distance runners.
"Will Palmer is a tremendous addition to our staff and we're excited to welcome him to the Crimson Tide family," Waters said. "He comes from a great coaching tree and brings a broad range of experience and great energy to our program. Will's combination of coaching versatility, organizational skills and operations background are second to none and the reason he is one of the rising stars in our profession."
Palmer arrives in Tuscaloosa, with seven years of coaching and operations experience garnered in coaching stops at Georgetown (2016-18), Western Kentucky (2015-16) and Iowa State (2013-15) and two years as the operations director for the track & field and cross country teams at Oklahoma (2011-13).
"I'm thrilled to join the University of Alabama track & field family," Palmer said. "I want to thank head coach Dan Waters and director of athletics Greg Byrne for this incredible opportunity. Coach Waters, his staff and team have accomplished great things and I am excited to do my part in continuing to make this team and our athletes better. I am forever grateful to director of track & field Julie Culley and director of athletics Lee Reed at Georgetown for their support throughout my time with the Hoyas and during this process."
In two years with the Hoyas, Palmer's women's middle distance and distance runners garnered 43 All-BIG EAST nods across cross country (11), indoor (18) and outdoor track & field (14).Â
With Palmer, Georgetown boasted 27 competitors at the 2017 and 2018 NCAA east prelims across the middle distance and distance events. The Hoyas' Jonathan Green also earned Mid-Atlantic Region Men's Athlete of the Year in 2017.
At the national level, the Hoya's men's and women's distance and middle distance runners earned All-America honors in the women's mile, men's mile, men's 1,500 meters, 10,000 meters and the distance medley relay and men's cross country between 2017 and 2018. Palmer was also part of the 2016-17 Hoya staff that led the track & field and cross country teams to a No. 6 ranking in the USTFCCCA Men's Program of the Year standings.
Palmer arrived Georgetown after a one-year stint as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky. He was responsible for the women's cross country resurgence as the team turned in its best overall season in five years in 2015-16. On the track, his middle distance and distance athletes contributed to a pair of C-USA team championships (2016 men's indoor and outdoor) and a pair of C-USA podium finishes (second – 2016 women's indoor; third – 2016 women's outdoor). He also coached Endalow Takele to the men's 10,000-meter title at the C-USA outdoor championships.
Prior to his time at Western Kentucky, Palmer spent two years as an assistant at Iowa State University from 2013-15. During those two seasons, the Cyclones captured a pair of Big 12 women's cross country team championships and turned in a runner-up performance at the 2014 NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships.
Palmer got his start in collegiate track & field as the director of track & field and cross country operations for the University of Oklahoma for two seasons (2011-13). During his time with the Sooners, he worked for Martin Smith, who would go on to give Palmer his first collegiate coaching job at Iowa State.Â
The Bethesda, Md., native made the most of his undergraduate experience while at Williams College, interning with both the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and Team Indiana Elite, a professional distance running training group based in Bloomington. He was a four-year letterwinner on the men's cross country and track & field at Williams and received his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from the school in 2011. Palmer is married to the former Samantha Bluske.
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