Doug Fraley - Men's Cross Country Coach - University of Montana Athletics

Doug Fraley

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
douglas.fraley@mso.umt.edu
Phone:
243-4657

Doug Fraley enters his third season as Montana’s head track & field and cross country coach in 2024-25 after being appointed in August 2022. In addition to overseeing the entire programs, Fraley specializes in the Grizzlies’ sprints and jumps groups.

In his short time at Montana, the Grizzlies have won eight individual Big Sky indoor and outdoor championships and have seen 10 athletes appear at the NCAA First Round meet and one National Championship qualifier. The Grizzlies have also broken seven school records in Fraley’s time in charge.

In 2024, Fraley led Montana’s men to a 4^th place finish at the Outdoor Big Sky Championships, the highest finish for a Montana team since 2019. He also led the women to a 7^th place finish as both teams exceeded the preseason expectations.

Evan Todd won his third consecutive Big Sky Championship in the men’s javelin and set a championship and school record in the process with a throw of 246-6. Todd advanced all the way to the National Championship meet where he finished 22^nd.

Erin Wilde won her third straight Big Sky Championship at the 2023 outdoors with a jump of 5-7. Wilde also qualified for her second straight NCAA First Round Meet by breaking the school record earlier in the season with a jump of 5-10.5.

Zane Johnson also broke a Montana school record and reached the NCAA First Round meet in the men’s pole vault. Johnson cleared 17-3.5 at the Bengal Invitational to break the 10-year old program mark and finished 22^nd in the West.

Fraley’s sprint group had a record-setting year in 2023, setting new program bests in both of the men’s relays. The 4x100-meter relay record that had stood since 1969 was beaten twice during the season. The new program best of 40.30 - set by Jay Beagle, Jason Upton, Xavier Melice, and Paul Johnstone – was run at the Big Sky Championship meet in Bozeman.

At the same meet, the team of Jay Beagle, Taylor Johnson, Xavier Melice, and Paul Johnstone broke the 2019 school record in the 4x400-meter relay. The team ran a time of 3:08.21 to finish second in the conference. Both teams earned All-Conference honors.

Jaydon Green also broke a school record in the men’s 110-meter hurdles in 2024, running a time of 14.09.

Fraley also guided Cooper Hewett to a Montana school record and Big Sky Championship during the indoor season in the men’s 60-meter. Hewett ran a time of 6.72 to top the podium in Spokane.

Fraley and his staff also successfully hosted the Big Sky Cross Country Championships in 2023, putting together an event through inclement weather that featured some of the top teams in the country.

The men finished sixth overall in the event, the highest finish by a Montana team since 2015, while the women improved upon their 2022 result by finishing in eighth overall.

In Fraley’s first season at Montana, he mentored four Grizzlies to Big Sky Championships, seven athletes to All-Conference honors, and seven athletes to NCAA First Round appearances.

Todd and Green each won Big Sky titles in their respective events, while Wilde began her run of titles in the women’s high jump. Holly Sudol also claimed the crown in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

The Big Sky Champions all advanced to the NCAA First Round meet, where they were joined by Shealyne McGee (the school record holder in the women’s pole vault), Zane Johnson, and Matthew Hockett (javelin).

The men finished sixth in the conference in the outdoor meet and eighth in the indoor meet. The women finished sixth at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships, improving three spots from the year before and achieving their highest finish since 2019. They finished eighth at the indoor championship.

His cross country teams finished eighth and ninth at the conference championships just months after Fraley took over the program.

During his 14-year collegiate coaching career, the veteran pole vault coach has helped develop 18 NCAA Championship qualifiers and 10 All-Americans.

Fraley began his collegiate coaching career at Tulane, where he spent nine seasons with the Green Wave (2011-19). As the associate head coach – specializing in jumps, multi-events and men’s sprints – Fraley developed 24 NCAA East Regional qualifiers, seven NCAA Championship qualifiers and five All-Americans. He also was instrumental in the development of five academic All-Americans, in addition to assisting with strength & conditioning for the sprints and jumps groups.

During his final season at Tulane (2018-19), Fraley’s pole vaulters swept the podium at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships. In addition to a pair of freshmen, who placed second and third, Rebekah Markel won an individual title after she set meet and school records. She would repeat as champion during the outdoor season that spring and go on to qualify for the NCAA Championships, where she placed 14th.

A few seasons prior, in 2017, Alyssa Applebee won AAC indoor and outdoor conference championships before earning first-team All-America status at nationals. Fraley also coached Merritt Van Meter (2013 outdoors, 2014 indoors in the pole vault) and Devon Breaux (2015 long jump) to All-America status. Also coaching the men’s sprints, he helped his athletes to podium finishes in both 2017 and 2018, including a school record in the 4x100-meter relay.

After nearly a decade coaching at Tulane, Fraley made the cross-country move to the Palouse, where he spent three seasons at Washington State. Working with the Cougars’ jumps and multi-events groups, Fraley again saw success, helping develop 10 NCAA Championships qualifiers and five first-team All-Americans. Competing against the always-tough Pac-12 Conference, he had five athletes reach the podium, including 2022 pole vault champion Jacob Englar.

Fraley is a highly successful coach, but was a widely renowned athlete, as well. As an student-athlete at Fresno State in the late 1980s, Fraley was a three-time NCAA champion in the pole vault, jumping for his father and winning an indoor title in 1986 before sweeping the indoor and outdoor awards the following year. He was the Fresno State Athlete of the Year in 1985, 1986 and 1987 and was inducted into the Fresno State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. He graduated with a degree in Kinesiology.

After college, Fraley continued to compete on a regular basis as a part of the International Association of Athletics Federations Grand Prix circuit and qualified for six U.S. national teams and two Olympic Trials competitions. He also qualified for multiple World Grand Prix finals and finished fourth overall at the event in 1987. His personal record was collected in 1992 when he cleared 19-0.25 (5.80 meters) at a competition in Sestriere, Italy.

Fraley has remained incredibly active in the development of the sport that he has dedicated his life to. He has been a keynote speaker and is an annual lecturer at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada, and has acted as the Master of Ceremonies at the National Pole Vault Summit and the North American Pole Vault Championships, both events which he helped organize. He also contributed to the growth of track & field by serving as a member of the United States Track & Field Pole Vault Development coaching staff for 17 years, from 1994-2010.

Pole vault has been a part of Fraley’s life for as long as he can remember, so it’s no surprise that it’s how he was introduced to his wife, as well. The former Erica Bartolina was a 2008 Olympic pole vaulter in Beijing, in addition to being a two-time Big 12 Conference champion at Texas A&M. She, too, has collegiate coaching experience, in addition to owning and running the Louisiana Pole Vault Compound, a training facility outside of New Orleans.

His father, Bob Fraley, was a hall-of-fame pole vault coach in California, developing 44 All-Americans over a 28-year coaching career at Fresno State, being inducted into the Fresno State Athletics and U.S. Pole Vault hall of fames, in addition to being named the 2003 USA Track & Field NIKE Coach of the Year.