Longtime Chico State Oliver Hanf enters his 14th season leading the men's track & field program while returning to the helm of the women's team on August 10, 2023. The 2024 season will mark Hanf's 19th overall at the helm of the women's program. Hanf has been associated with the track & field program, from a student-athlete to a coach for a better part of four decades.
With well over 30 seasons combined, Hanf has won five California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year, including four straight at the end of his first stint, while being awarded the men's coaching honor six times, including five straight.
Hanf has led the men’s track & field team to seven CCAA championships in 10 years of competition, while occupying a spot in the Top 25 of the year-end U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) ranking six times between 2012 and 2019. With Hanf at the helm, Wildcat athletes have garnered 164 All-CCAA honors, 86 All-West Region selections, and 39 All-America awards.
On the women's side, Hanf mentored 43 All-Americans – including four national champions – and 64 CCAA champions during his time leading the women's team. Along the way, the Wildcats captured five conference championships.
In his first season leading both the men's and women's program, Hanf watched both teams take second place at the CCAA Championships. Along the way, he watched men's thrower Chance Hefter win CCAA Newcomer of the Meet after winning the discus. Also making the top of the conference championship podium, distance runner Dylan White won the 10,000 meter, Hunter Dougherty made won the steeplechase and Aries Harris won the javelin throw and Brayden McLaughlin won the 5,000 meter. On the women's side of the conference championship, future hall of famer Marissa D'Atri took home two gold medals by winning the steeplechase and the 5,000 meter. Josie Peterson also came out a winner in the conference championship, taking hom the javelin title.
Hanf’s 2023 men's squad enjoyed another banner season, posting a second place finish at the CCAA Championships and ranking sixth among West Region men’s track & field programs. The year would see sprinter Vincent Rinaldi break a 19-year old school record in the 200-meter dash, a pair of CCAA champions (Jack Emanuel in the 5,000-meter run and Joshua O’Neill in the 10,000-meter run), and no less than nine athletes (as well as both the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays teams) earn All-CCAA honors. Rinaldi, Emanuel, and Cameron Duquette were 2023 USTFCCCA All-West Region selections.
The entire 2020 and all of the 2021 track & field seasons were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Hanf was able to keep the program together and lead the Chico State men’s track & field team to a second place finish at the 2022 CCAA Championships and a No. 3 West Region ranking. Two Wildcats—Cristian Brady in the pole vault and Rory Abberton in the 1,500m run—earned All-America honors at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Allendale, Michigan, with Brady setting a new program record in the pole vault. In the final NCAA Division II Men’s Track & Field national rankings, the Hanf-led Wildcats shared the No. 26 position.
In 2020, Hanf and the Wildcats were off to what promised to be another memorable season. Chico State had two decathletes (Alex Robie and Alex Davila) score NCAA provisional marks in the season-opening Chico Multi Classic, then in the first full meet of the season, the ’Cats took top teams honors March 6–7 at the Stanislaus Kim Duyst Invitational. Unfortunately, just one week later, the coronavirus pandemic brought the 2020 campaign to an abrupt halt, ceasing competition for the remainder of the spring.
Chico State enjoyed an outstanding year in 2019, as Hanf piloted the Wildcat men to its fourth straight CCAA title (the program’s 15th in the last 16 seasons) and the No. 1 ranking in the West Region. Six athletes competed in the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Kingsville, Texas, with Tyler Arroyo and Eddie King bringing home All-America accolades for the second consecutive year. Hanf claimed some hardware as well in 2019, receiving both CCAA and USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year honors.
Hanf led the Wildcats to the 2018 CCAA championship, the top spot in the West Region and the No. 10 ranking in the final USTFCCCA poll. Kyle Medina won All-America honors in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5k at the NCAA Championships in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Arroyo (high jump), King (5k), Jack Johnson (steeple and 5k), Michael Good (800-meter run), Lane Andrews (decathlon), and Derek Morton (800) all turning in All-America efforts. Hanf was named the 2018 CCAA and USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year.
Under Hanf’s tutelage, the Wildcats won the 2017 CCAA championship, finished first in the West Region and No. 8 in the nation. Five Wildcats—Medina (1,500- and 5,000-meter run), Andrews (decathlon), Will Reyes (5k and 10k), Jason Dunn (decathlon), and Dotun Olubeko (110-meter hurdles) earned All-America honors at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Bradenton, Florida, while Hanf took home the CCAA and USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year awards.
Hanf’s 2017 team also won the Webb Cup for the second time in four years, recognizing the Wildcats as the No. 1 collegiate decathlon program in the nation, regardless of division.
Hanf guided the Wildcat men to the 2016 CCAA championship and a No. 11 ranking in the final USTFCCCA poll. Eight athletes competed in the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Bradenton, with five Wildcats—Reyes (5k and 10k), Medina (1,500) Zak Stroing (javelin), Aaron Martin (decathlon), and Wade Tsang (discus)—turning in All-America performances. Hanf was again named the CCAA Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year.
Hanf led the Wildcat men to a No. 16 national ranking in 2015 and was selected as the USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year. Six Chico State athletes—Medina (1,500), Alex McGuirk (steeple), Phill Bailey (decathlon), Barron Maizland (steeple), Nick Grubiss (5k), and Aaron Mora (10k)—delivered All-America efforts at the NCAA Championships in Allendale, Michigan.
The 2014 season was one of the most memorable in Chico State men’s track & field history. Under Hanf’s guidance, the Wildcats ranked sixth in the nation (tying the highest national finish in the modern history of the program), produced seven All-America performances and won the CCAA championship for the 11th straight year. J Patrick Smith captured his third consecutive national crown in the decathlon, scoring a school-record 7,645 points, and Chico State received its first Webb Cup award as the top decathlon program in the nation. The ’Cats’ success netted Hanf 2014 CCAA and West Region Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year honors.
In Hanf’s first year as men’s head coach, he guided the Wildcats to their 10th straight CCAA championship and the nation’s No. 23 ranking in 2013. Hanf also spearheaded the Chico State women’s track & field team to its fourth straight CCAA crown and a No. 24 national ranking. Fifteen Wildcats would go on to compete in the 2013 NCAA Track & Field Championships, with four athletes—Smith, Amy Schnittger, Isaac Chavez, and Robin Hannah—delivering All-America performances. Smith claimed his second straight national championship in the decathlon and was named the USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Year.
In addition to six straight men’s top 25 national rankings, Hanf’s Chico State women’s track & field teams finished among the top 30 programs in the country 11 times between 2000 and 2013, including a run of nine straight seasons from 2002 to 2010.
In his 16 full seasons as the Wildcat women’s head coach, Hanf mentored 39 All-Americans, including four national titlists and 61 CCAA champions. Hanf earned two West Region Women’s Track & Field Coach of the Year awards and was named CCAA Coach of the Year no less than five times, first earning the honor in 2004, then winning four straight from 2010–13.
Prior to taking over the Chico State women’s track and field program, Hanf served as head coach of the Butte College men’s and women’s cross country and the men’s and women’s track & field teams.
In high school, Hanf earned seven varsity letters in football, wrestling, and track & field. He competed as a nationally-ranked decathlete for Chico State, scoring a career-best 6,888 points in 1991. Hanf earned All-Northern California Athletic Conference honors as a high jumper, clearing 6’9” in 1992, a mark that ranked among Chico State’s top 10 performances in the event for 20 years.
Hanf transferred to Chico State after attending Diablo Valley College, receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1992. He earned his master’s degree in biomechanics at Chico State in 1995.
Hanf and his wife, Shari, have been married since 1993 and have two daughters, Jessica and Sophia.
