--Courtesy of NJCU Athletics
JERSEY CITY, NJ --- New Jersey City University has announced that Patrick O'Neill as been named its new head men's and women's cross country and track and field coach after a full search. O'Neill will be the first full-time head coach in the newly expanded role, which will include relaunching the indoor and outdoor track and field programs, last sponsored in 2010.
"I want to thank the hiring committee and administration for bringing me into the Gothic Knight family," said O'Neill. "I am honored to take over such a storied [track] program and excited at the opportunity ahead. I truly believe once NJCU reintroduces a full component of track and field with an already existing cross country program, interest levels will rise and we will have a strong foundation moving forward. I plan on utilizing New Jersey's vast and very talented cross country and track student-athlete population to build a contender not only at the NJAC level but at the regional and national levels as well."
O'Neill, 31, comes to NJCU with experience at four New England institutions-two as head coach as Lasell College and Lesley University and two as an assistant and Brandeis University and American International College.
Most recently, he was the head coach at Lasell in Auburndale, Mass., serving two seasons with the Lasers from 2015-17. There, O'Neill's athletes set over 30 school records and multiple athletes achieved qualifying marks for Division III New England, ECAC, and NEICAAA (Division I, II and III) championship meets.
He came to Lasell after two years as the assistant cross country and track and field coach at Brandeis (Waltham, Mass.) from December 2013 to July 2015. With the Judges, O'Neill helped manage and host the UAA Indoor Track and Field Conference Championships and coached five athletes to NCAA Division III Championship qualifications.
O'Neill's first head coaching job came in 2013 with Lesley's men's and women's cross country teams in Cambridge, Mass., where he lead both teams to New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) championships in his only season with the Lynx. Nine athletes set school records under O'Neill's guidance, and the women's team was named to the 2013 USTFCCCA Division III Cross Country All-Academic Team.
He began his collegiate coaching debut as an assistant for three years at Division II American International in Springfield, Mass. for three seasons (October 2009 through June 2013). During a highly successful run at AIC, he coached 25 national qualifiers and produced 21 All-Americans, with six placing in the top three nationally. Additionally, O'Neill coached five relay teams to the NCAAs.
At the 2013 Penn Relays, O'Neill guided the men's 10,000 meters championship race winner and runner-up (28:58 and 29:04). In 2012, the AIC men's cross country team won their first-ever NCAA Division II East Regional Championship and the Yellow Jackets placed 12th in the Division III national championship meet. During his tenure on AIC's staff, its men's athletes broke records in the 800 meters (1:50), mile (4:03), 3000 meters (8:07), 5000 meters (14:03), 10,000 meters (28:58), 3000-meter steeplechase (9:03), distance medley relay (9:49) and the 8K in cross country (23:42). The AIC women set new standards in the 1500 meters (4:34), 3000 meters (9:48), and 5000 meters (16:46).
He began his coaching career at the high school level as head coach of The MacDuffie School in Granby, Mass. from June 2008 until October 2009.
O'Neill was a four-year standout runner (2004-08) in cross country and track and field at Division I Seton Hall University, where he was a three-time BIG EAST Conference All-Academic Team recipient (2006, 2007, 2008).
A 2008 graduate of Seton Hall with a B.A. in Communications, he later earned a Master of Public Administration from AIC in 2013.
He's an alumnus of Southwick-Tolland Regional High School in Southwick, Mass., graduating in 2004, where he was a four-year cross country and track and field runner.