“My responsibilities are somewhat similar [as head coach],” Dolan said. “[Samara] allowed me to take responsibilities as assistant coach. The position isn’t that much different at a day-to-day level.”
Dolan was a Division III national championship decathlete at the University of St. Thomas. After graduating in 1992, Dolan became the head coach at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), a post he held for more than a decade. Under Dolan’s direction, the Lions achieved significant success in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, winning multiple conference championships in both indoor and outdoor track and men’s and women’s cross country. For his efforts, Dolan was named NCAA Division III Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year 12 times.
Searching for a new challenge after building one of Division III’s best running programs, Dolan decided to move from Trenton to Princeton in 2003.
“I was honored to have an opportunity to come to Princeton,” Dolan said. “It was a new experience for me and a new opportunity.”
During Dolan’s five years with the Tigers, individual runners and the team alike have experienced new highs. Last year, then-junior Michael Maag — an Ivy League cross country champion and NCAA All-American — broke a 17-year-old school record in the 3,000 meters and also made a run at the four-minute mile, finishing in four minutes, .43 seconds.
Dolan has been an integral part of Princeton’s meteoric rise. Samara and Dolan have developed some of the Ivy League’s premier harriers. At the same time, the Tigers have risen to the top of the Ivy League, where they were a disappointing sixth as recently as 2005.
Along the way, a disparate collection of runners has become a true team.
“We have a good atmosphere,” Dolan said. “We have a great group of guys on the team and have great communication between the athletes and myself. I feel very good about our team chemistry.”
The transition between Samara and Dolan has been seamless, partially because Dolan has been devoting his full attention to cross country. In contrast, Dolan was in charge of the entire track and field program at TCNJ.
“[Here at Princeton] I’m able to focus more on the men’s distance runners,” Dolan said. “My responsibilities here are a little different than my responsibilities [at TCNJ].”
The Tigers do not appear to have skipped a beat and look poised to repeat their recent success. Princeton dominated the Old Nassau Run this year, with 11 of the top 12 runners in the six-kilometer event. TCNJ’s Chris Guerriero was the fifth-place finisher.
This year Princeton hosts two more races, the Princeton Invitational on Oct. 18 and the Mid-Atlantic Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Regional on Nov. 15. The Regional is the last stepping stone to the NCAA championship, with the winner qualifying automatically.
Currently, the Tigers are ranked third in the Mid-Atlantic Regional poll. This year’s goals include winning the Regional and getting to the NCAA championship. It will not be an easy feat to accomplish, and many younger members of the team will have to step up.
“Five of our top eight runners last year were seniors,” Dolan said, “but our freshmen are off to a great start.”
The new head coach is quick to stress, however, that the finish line isn’t the only place where he has high standards for his runners.
“We want to be competitive and also excel in the classroom,” Dolan said. “We always have to set the bar high.”
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