The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has created an award honoring Arkansas legend John McDonnell.

The John McDonnell Program of the Year Award will be given annually to the best all-around Division I men’s cross country/track and field program, determined by teams’ success in the cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field championships. The inaugural award will be given at the end of the 2009 outdoor track and field season.

McDonnell retired earlier this year after a coaching tenure at Arkansas that spanned nearly four decades. His teams won a combined 42 national championships (11 cross country, 19 indoor track and field, and 12 outdoor track and field) and posted top-10 finishes in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field in 24 of his 36 seasons in Fayetteville. 

McDonnell’s teams also won 34 consecutive cross country conference titles (17 each in the Southwest and Southeastern Conferences), and won 12 straight Division I indoor track and field national championships from 1984-95. He has coached 187 all-Americans and 23 Olympians during his tenure. 

McDonnell graduated from Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) in 1969 and began his coaching career in New Jersey at New Providence High School. He returned to Lafayette in 1971 to coach at Lafayette High School before being hired at Arkansas in 1972.