Dave Nielson Idaho State Head Coach Iowa, 1978 29th season
COACHES
Dave Nielsen enters his 29th season as the head track and field coach at Idaho State University with a program that continues to grow stronger each year. While Nielsen is well known for having coached Olympic Champion and World Record Holder Stacy Dragila, she is far from the only standout that has come through the ISU program over the last 27 years. Nielsen has helped 21 athletes to All-American status during his tenure at ISU, including 12 in the last five years. Forty-five athletes have advanced to the NCAA Championships, 163 have won Big Sky titles and 391 have earned all-conference
recognition. During the 2010 season, Nielsen led Cassie Merkley to All-American status after she captured Big Sky outdoor titles in the heptathlon and javelin and finished eighth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championship. Nielsen had nine other athletes earn all-conference honors during the outdoor season. During the indoor season, Nielsen led Merkley and Mike Arnold to conference titles. Merkley took the pentathlon while Arnold won the pole vault. Arnold went on to finish 15th at the NCAA Indoor Championship in the pole vault. In 2009, Nielsen led senior Nathan Capps and junior Sydney Wendt to Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championship titles in the decathlon and heptathlon events. Capps went on to compete at the NCAA Championship finishing 21st overall. Nielsen also oversaw freshman Michael Arnold as he took the Big Sky Conference outdoor pole vault title and watched as he went on to place second at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships and second at the Pan American Junior Championships. He also led junior Sergio Jones to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA West Regional. The men also finished second at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Champion and third during the outdoor campaign while the women finished fifth during the indoor season and sixth at the outdoor championship. In 2008, Nielsen helped Cassie Merkley have a breakout season, guiding the junior to Big Sky Conference Indoor Championship gold medals in the 60-meter hurdles, high jump and pentathlon as well an outdoor gold in the heptathlon, the latter of which qualified her for the NCAA National Outdoor Championship. The women’s squad took third at the Big Sky Outdoor Championship and tied for fourth in the Big Sky Outdoor Championship. The men took fourth place in indoors. During the 2007 season, Nielsen led the women’s track and field team to an outdoor Big Sky Conference victory, which was the first in Bengal history. He received both the Big Sky Conference and Mountain Region Coach of the Year Award in 2007 for his efforts. Nielsen’s coaching helped the Bengals claim titles in two events, including the 800-meter run and 400meter relay. Nielsen also helped the Bengal women’s track and field team capture second place in the women’s Big Sky Conference Indoor Championship. Nielsen led the men’s track and field team to two consecutive indoor Big Sky Conference victories in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, Nielsen helped the Bengals claim titles in four events, including the pole vault, high jump, shot put and distance medley relays. He received the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year award in 2005 and 2006. Nielsen was also honored as the Big Sky Conference and Mountain Region Coach of the Year Award for indoor men’s track and field in 1997 and 1998. Amber Welty became the Bengals’ first-ever NCAA Champion when she won the NCAA Outdoor high jump title with a leap of 6 feet, 3.5 inches. Welty was also the Bengals’ firstever four-time NCAA All-American, finishing first, second, third and fourth in four appearances. Later, as an assistant coach for the Bengals and still coached by Nielsen, Welty became Idaho State University’s first female track and field Olympian earning a spot on the 1992 USA Olympic Team competing in Barcelona, Spain. Nielsen was named the 2000 USA Track & Field Nike Elite Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) National Coach of the Year. In the fall of 2010, Nielsen was the recipient of the ISU Distinguished Service award for his exceptional loyalty to the university and service above and beyond the call of duty. Nielsen has been a
driving force at Idaho State and nationally for offering competitive opportunities for women in the hammer, weight throw and pole vault long before they were collegiate events. He is as concerned about his studentathletes’ performance in the classroom as on the track. During his tenure at ISU his student-athletes have garnered 1,020 Academic All-Big Sky honors. He has had 11 Academic All-American selections. In addition, 18 of his athletes have earned Big Sky Scholar Athlete recognition, more than any other sport at ISU during that time period. Nielsen is a nationally recognized expert in the track and field jumping disciplines. He has been published in the journals Track Coach, Coaches Review, Pole Vault Standard, IAAF New Studies in Athletics, was the primary source for an article by the American Institute of Physics. He was featured in the August 2002 issue of Track and Field Coaches Review. In other professional activities, Nielsen has served as USA Track and Field women’s development chair (pole vault), and as a member of the NCAA Track and Field Committee and USTFCCCA Division I Executive Committee. Once one of the top pole-vaulters in the nation, Nielsen was a Big Ten champion and earned All-American honors and competed at the 1976 Olympic Trials. Nielsen served as both student assistant and graduate assistant at Iowa. He moved to Pocatello in 1980 to train for an Olympic berth while completing graduate studies. After serving as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin (1982-83 season), he returned to ISU as the women’s track coach before being named to head the combined program in 1985.
Nielsen received his Bachelor Degree (BGS) from the University of Iowa (1978) and Masters Degree in Physical Education and Administration from Idaho State (1981). Nielsen has three sons: Hans, Thor, and Sven. Nielsen married his wife Michelle Jan. 10, 2009.
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