Dan Schofer joined Macalester in July of 2019 as the Director of Track & Field/Cross Country. In this new position, Schofer provides oversight and guidance to the men's and women's track & field and cross country programs at Macalester. He also serves as the head men's and women's cross country coach.
In Schofer's first six years at Macalester, three of the four programs he oversees (men's cross country, women's cross country, and men's track and field) have been in the top four at the MIAC Championships. In 2024, the men's cross country team placed third in the MIAC, the program's best finish since 1971.
While at Macalester, Schofer has coached eight NCAA qualifiers, 15 All-Region performers, 11 MIAC individual champions, 60 All-MIAC performances and 88 All-MIAC honorable mention performances. His athletes have broken 59 school records between indoor and outdoor track and field.
Schofer brings to Macalester 18 years of coaching experience, including a successful 13-year run at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. At Cornell, he was the head men's and women's cross country coach for 13 years and the head men’s and women’s track & field coach for the past seven years. During his time at Cornell, his teams won three Midwest Conference championships in cross country and registered 11 top-three conference finishes in track & field. His student-athletes garnered 263 all-conference performances, 56 school records, 69 individual titles in track & field, five cross country individual championships and 26 NCAA All-American honors. Cornell has had NCAA cross country national qualifiers in 10 of the last 11 years, and NCAA track & field qualifiers in each of the last six years. One of his student-athletes, Abrah Masterson, won national championships in women’s cross country and in the 10,000 meters on the track.
Schofer’s success brought accolades, including three Midwest Conference cross country Coach of the Year awards and the 2017 men’s track & field MWC Coach of the Year award. In 2015, he was chosen the Central Region Coach of the Year for women’s track & field. His men’s cross country team won conference titles in 2017 and 2018, marking the first time the Rams’ harriers won a conference championship since 1961 and the first back-to-back titles since 1947-48.
Recruiting played a significant role in Schofer’s success at Cornell, as he built the largest rosters in the programs’ history that included student-athletes from 30 states.
Prior to his time at Cornell, Schofer was an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s track & field and cross country teams for four years at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. At Rhodes, his athletes recorded four All-American performances, nine individual conference championships and 40 All-Conference honors. Schofer spent one season as an assistant at Carleton College, his alma mater, and one year at the University of Oregon as an instructor and teaching assistant. He earned a Master’s degree in exercise physiology while at Oregon.
A 2000 graduate of Carleton, Schofer was All-Region and qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships as an individual in 1999. He received All-MIAC honorable mention twice in cross country and was All-MIAC on the track three times.
Schofer, his wife Marie and their daughters Ellie and Rosie live in St. Paul.
