Forrest Donnell

Forrest Donnell joined the Big Blue staff in July 2024 as an assistant coach for the Millikin track & field program coaching sprints and hurdles.
 
Donnell joins Big Blue with four years of Division I coaching experience and five years of high school coaching experience.
 
“I’m excited to join Coach Craycraft’s staff and play a role in developing the Millikin student-athletes,” states Donnell. “The women just won their first CCIW Cross Country title and the men had a national champion in the pole vault. The team is doing big things and I think the program is on the cusp of something really special.”
 
Donnell joined the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) staff for the 2021-2022 season, coaching the combined events, hurdles, horizontal jumps, and javelin. In his first season, the men’s team finished as indoor and outdoor Southland Conference (SLC) champions, both program firsts. Additionally, the women were SLC runners-up during the indoor and outdoor seasons, making it the most successful year in program history to that point. Donnell coached a group that included the SLC Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year, SLC Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year, three conference champions, four runners-up, six third place finishes, and two athletes qualifying for the first round of the DI NCAA Championship. Donnell coached a decathlon group that ranked second in the NCAA, per USTFCCCA squad rankings. This was the first time the event group had ever been ranked at UIW and included two men scoring over 7000 points for the first time (7325 and 7093).
 
Prior to UIW, Donnell coached the combined events and field events at Ball State University from 2019-2021. At the 2020 Indoor Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship, the Cardinals placed third after placing eighth the previous season, including a runner-up finish in the pentathlon for Karlie Zumbro. At the 2021 Outdoor MAC Championship, Zumbro won the heptathlon and Charity Griffith (Hufnagel) added a runner-up finish in the high jump and qualified for the first round of the NCAA Championship in her freshman outdoor season.
 
For the 2018-2019 season, Donnell served as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, assisting the horizontal jumps and men’s sprints. The group ended the season with three All-American honors and the top ranked men’s and women’s triple jump teams in the nation, per USTFCCCA squad rankings.
 
Donnell coached four seasons at Lyons High School in Lyons, CO, before coaching in the NCAA. He also coached one season at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, NC. Donnell is a USTFCCCA certified combined events coach and has completed internships at ALTIS and Landow Performance.
 
A native of Lyons, CO, Donnell earned his bachelor’s degree in Integrative Physiology from Colorado in 2017. Donnell lives in Decatur with his wife, Kassidy.