BOSTON – Jon Molz, who helped the Richmond cross country programs to a combined four Atlantic 10 Championships, was hired as the head coach for cross country and assistant coach for track & field, director of track & field and cross country Grant Cartwright announced Friday. Molz will coach distance for the Terriers.
Molz joins the BU staff after serving as the associate head coach and middle distance coach for the Richmond Spiders for the past 12 seasons. Molz has coached 43 Atlantic 10 champions and nine ECAC champions. He has also helped athletes make a combined 15 appearances at the NCAA Preliminary and NCAA Indoor Championships meets.
“I am pleased to announce that Jon Molz is named our head cross country coach and assistant distance coach,” said Cartwright. “I am excited for the positive impact he will have on our student athletes.”
At Richmond, his 800m squads have finished ranked in the top-20 among all NCAA Division I schools on the USTFCCCA Event Squad Rankings three separate times, reaching a highest ranking of 10th in the 2021 outdoor season.
Molz notably coached Brooke Fazio to three USTFCCCA All-American performances in the 800m. In addition to being a First Team All-American in the 2021 outdoor season and a Second Team All-American in the 2021 indoor season, she was also named an All-American in the 2020 indoor season.
Since starting at Richmond in 2012, he has assisted the women’s cross country squad to eight top-three team finishes including Atlantic 10 Championships in 2015, 2016 and 2018. He also assisted the men’s squad to the Atlantic 10 Championship in 2020.
“I want to thank Coach Cartwright and the entire Boston University athletic administration for providing me this incredible opportunity,” said Molz. “Since my first phone call with coach Cartwright, I have continued to be impressed by everybody I've spoken with during the hiring process. I can't wait to get started in Boston and join the Terrier family.”
Molz has helped 81 athletes reach the Atlantic 10 podium and 28 athletes reach the ECAC podium. He also saw 11 program records and four Atlantic 10 Championship records rewritten in his tenure.
Prior to working full-time with the Spiders, Molz was a volunteer coach for the men’s cross country and track & field teams from 2008 - 2011. During that time, Molz helped guide the men to unprecedented levels of success, highlighted by the team’s first-ever Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and 24th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2010. Two athletes also earned All-American honors on the track while Molz was volunteering.
In 2013, Molz co-founded the Collegiate Running Association with Steve Taylor. The Collegiate Running Association was established to promote healthy lifestyles among college students through running and to establish national championships in road racing, mountain running, and trail running for college students.
Prior to his coaching career, Molz enjoyed a standout running career with the Spiders from 2004-2008, during which he earned two Atlantic 10 championship titles in indoor track and a total of five all-conference honors between cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. During his senior year, Molz turned in a third-place individual finish to lead the men's cross country team to, at the time, its highest-ever team finish with a second-place showing at the 2007 Atlantic 10 Championship. Molz also qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championship in the 3,000m steeplechase in 2008.
Molz graduated from the University of Richmond in 2008 and earned his Master's from VCU's Center for Sport Leadership in 2009.
