John Kolb - Women's Track and Field Coach - University of Montana Athletics

John Kolb

Title:
Assistant Coach (Throws)
Email:
john.kolb@mso.umt.edu

John Kolb is in his third season as an assistant coach with the Montana track & field program, working with the Griz throwers. He was hired by head coach Doug Fraley in September 2022 after the two connected at Washington State, Fraley as a coach and Kolb as a student-athlete.

He has helped Montana’s throws group emerge as a strength on the team and worked closely with Evan Todd, a three-time Big Sky Champion, NCAA Championship and USA Olympic Trials qualifier, and the Montana school record holder.

Kolb helped Todd to a banner year in 2024, cementing his legacy at Montana as the greatest in a long line of very talented javelin throwers. Todd has seven of Montana’s 10 all-time best throws, six of which came during the 2024 season.

He made history at the Big Sky Championship meet with a mark of 246-6, a new Montana school record, a Bobcat Track & Field Complex Record, and a Big Sky Championship Meet record. The throw won him the Most Outstanding Performer award at the meet, the first Grizzly to ever bring home the honor.

Todd finished 9^th at the NCAA First Round meet to qualify for the NCAA Championship in Eugene, Ore. He would make two trips to Hayward Field in June, first for the NCAA Championship where he finished 22^nd and second for the Team USA Olympic Trials, where he finished 16^th.

Kolb also helped lead a pair of Griz women to All-Conference honors at the 2024 Outdoor Championship. Ariel Clark finished 3^rd in the women’s hammer in 2024 with a mark of 183-3, while Lea Moose found the podium in the women’s javelin with a mark of 142-3.

Moose is the second women’s javelin thrower to earn All-Conference honors under Kolb. Autumn Morse had a big performance in 2023 with a mark of 142-10 to finish 3^rd in the Big Sky.

The men’s javelin group had three point scorers at the 2023 Big Sky meet, and Kolb helped lead Matthew Hockett to an NCAA First Round appearance in the event. Hockett redshirted in 2024 to focus on school, but is expected to compete for a Big Sky title in 2025.

During his four-year career, which began at the University of Louisville, Kolb qualified for NCAA Regionals four times in the discus. As a sophomore in 2018, he earned first-team All-ACC honors by placing second at the ACC Championships. As a senior, while at Washington State, he again finished second overall at the Pac-12 Championships. His lifetime-best throw of 194-1 ranks sixth in Washington State history. Kolb also has Louisville's second-best discus mark.

Kolb is a native of Kentucky, where he was a three-time state discus champion and two-time state champion in the shot put. He still holds the Kentucky Class A state discus record.

Kolb graduated from Louisville with a degree in exercise science and earned his master's degree in sport management from Washington State.