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Dan O'Brien returns for his fourth season as a volunteer coach on the Arizona State University track and field staff and will again work with the multi-event athletes following another successful season in 2008. After working with the most successful multi-event standout in NCAA history -- Jacquelyn Johnson -- over the past three seasons, O'Brien will turn his attention to developing a young crop of men's decathlon participants. In his most recent season (2008) with the Sun Devils, O'Brien worked with Johnson as she won her third indoor pentathlon and fourth outdoor heptathlon crown. She set the indoor collegiate record in the pentathlon with a score of 4,496 points, which also stands as the third-best score in U.S. history. Her 6,347 points in the heptathlon is a Pac-10 record and helped her finish second at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field and earn a berth into the Beijing Olympics in the heptathlon. During the 2007 season, Johnson won her second indoor pentathlon national title before capturing her third outdoor heptathlon crown later in the year, helping ASU to a pair of national team championships, the first in the history of the program. O'Brien played a role in helping Johnson return to the track in 2006 following a year off to play basketball for the Sun Devils. In her first season back to competition, Johnson swept the multi-events, winning the national title at both the indoor and outdoor national meets while adding a Pac-10 title as well. Joshua Kinnaman earned a trio of All-America honors during his time working with O'Brien, including an eighth-place showing at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships in the heptathlon. After sitting out most of the 2005 season because of injury, Kinnaman worked with O'Brien to make a strong comeback that saw him place eighth at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships in the heptathlon before placing sixth in the decathlon at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships. All three performances earned Kinnaman All-America honors. One of the top athletes in the history of the sport, O'Brien won the decathlon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and earned the distinction of the "World's Greatest Athlete". Prior to his gold medal performance in the Summer Games, he won gold medals at the 1991, 1993 and 1995 World Championships while adding titles at the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia. O'Brien later added a Goodwill Games title at the 1998 meet in New York. After securing gold at the 1991 USA Track & Field Championships, O'Brien captured the same crown four years in a row (1993-1996) heading into the Atlanta Games. At the start of that run, he also stepped out of the decathlon to compete at the 1993 IAAF World Championships and won the heptathlon title with a world record point total. His success at the national level also earned him another distinction as his five championships tied him with Bill Toomey for the most ever in the history of the meet. A native of Portland, Ore., O'Brien is no stranger to the Pac-10 Conference as he served as a volunteer assistant coach at conference rival Washington State from 1992-98. Then, in 1997, he moved to the Valley where he continued to train and compete. Despite injuries preventing him from competing for the United States, O'Brien was a part of the last two Olympiads. Working with NBC, O'Brien provided analysis for the television network's coverage of track and field in both the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games. Prior to his success on the international stage, O'Brien competed at the University of Idaho. In his senior campaign, he earned All-America honors by placing seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 55m hurdles. The former Vandal now has his name adorned on the home venue of his Alma mater, the Dan O'Brien Track Complex. O'Brien currently resides in Scottsdale with his wife, Leilani, and continues to speak and broadcast at events around the country. |
 
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