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

John Kolb

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

John Kolb enters his 5^th season as an assistant coach with the Montana track & field program in 2026-27, working with the Griz throwers. He was hired by head coach Doug Fraley in September 2022 after the two connected at Washington State with Fraley as coach and Kolb as student-athlete.

Kolb has coached his athletes to three Big Sky Championships to go with 11 All-Conference honors in his first four seasons at Montana. Seven women and four men have earned All-Conference honors in a variety of events under Kolb’s leadership.

His athletes have broken four program records with the men’s weight throw (Cooper Henkle), shot put (Alex Shields), discus (Titus Jeffrey), and javelin (Evan Todd) records all falling in his time as coach.

Evan Todd claimed two Big Sky titles in the men’s javelin, breaking the Montana school record and the Big Sky Championship record in his final season with the Grizzlies with a throw of 246-6.

Todd would advance to the NCAA Championships his senior year and place 22^nd in the entire country. He placed 9^th in the NCAA West Region as a senior.

In 2026, Kolb added a second Big Sky champion to his resume when Brynn Fuller claimed the title in the women’s javelin. Fuller, a transfer in her first season at Montana, won the title in Portland with a throw of 160-4.

It was a historic day in the event for Montana as Kolb’s group swept the podium in the women’s javelin. Ashley Carroll finished second in the event, the second straight year that she finished as runner-up, and Ella Moodry third as the Grizzlies swept the title and All-Conference honors for the first time in program history.

The women’s throws group earned addition All-Conference honors at the 2026 Championships in Portland. Freshman Lillian White placed third in the women’s discus with a throw of 150-1.

The men also saw two All-Conference performances in Portland. Alex Shields finished second in the men’s shot put with a throw of 60-2. Freshman Hunter Loesch earned All-Big Sky honors in the men’s javelin with a throw of 223-10.

The men’s javelin group had two athletes reach the podium in 2025 in Sacramento. Matthew Hockett was the runner-up in the Big Sky and Kyle Iorg finished third place at the championship meet.

Caroll reached the podium in the women’s javelin in her second season at Montana with a throw of 141-10.

Kolb had a pair of throwers earn All-Conference honors in 2023 at the Big Sky Championships in Bozeman. Ariel Clark placed third in the women’s hammer throw with a mark of 183-3. Lea Moose also placed third in the women’s javelin with a mark of 142-3.

Autumn Morse earned All-Conference honors in the women’s javelin in Kolb’s first season at Montana with a throw of 142-10.

Kolb has sent 13 athletes through to the NCAA West First Round meet and helped lead Todd to the NCAA Championship meet in 2023.

In Kolb’s time at Montana, the Grizzlies have gone from a team that finished 6^th and 9^th in the Big Sky Conference to a program that has finished in the top three for both men and women at each of the previous two Big Sky Championships.

During his four-year athletic 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.