Coaching Highlights at Saint Francis
- Six-time NEC Coach of the Year - 2017 (Women’s Cross Country), 2019 (Men’s Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field), 2021, 2022, 2023 (Women’s Track & Field)
- Coached two NCAA Participants - Deshaun Jackson (2019, 4th 110m hurdles), Sara Phelan (2019, 21st, javelin)
- Five-time NEC Champion - 2016 Women’s Cross Country; 2019, Men’s Track & Field; 2021, 2022, 2023 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field
- Coached 15 NCAA East Preliminary Participants
- Coached 39 All-NEC Cross Country Performers - 17 Men’s Cross Country; 21 Women’s Cross Country
- Coached 119 NEC Track and Field Champions - 25 Men’s Indoor Track & Field; 13 Women’s Indoor Track & Field; 32 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field; 39 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field
- 35 Times An Athlete Named NEC Outstanding Performer: Men’s Cross Country - Bryce England (Performer, 2017); Women’s Cross Country - Anna Quackenbush (Rookie, 2023) Rosie Gaydos (Rookie, 2024); Men’s Indoor Track & Field - Jesse Brown (Rookie, 2016), Bryce England (Performer, Distance, 2018); Nickolas Hyde (Throws, 2024); Men’s Outdoor Track & Field - Bryce England (2017, Distance; 2018, Distance), Chris Frederick (2018, Rookie); Deshaun Jackson (2019, Performer), Chris Frederick (2019, Sprints); Benjamin Ross (2019, Throws); Nickolas Hyde (Throws, 2021, 2022, ; Rookie, 2021); Julian Saunders (Sprints, 2023); Women’s Cross Country - Hannah Dorian (Rookie, 2014); Women’s Indoor Track & Field - Madeline Murphy (Jumps, 2023); Women’s Outdoor Track & Field - Brittany Jackson (Track, 2013), Paris Cotman (Rookie, 2013), Emma O’Hara (Rookie, 2013), Jennifer Hahne (2017, Track); Emily Lunger (2019, Rookie); Mylan Crews (Performer, Sprints, 2021); Madeline Murphy (Jumps, 2022; Performer, Jumps, 2023); Carly Sedun (Rookie, 2022; Thrower, 2024)
Douglas Hoover enters his 14th season at the helm of the Saint Francis University men's and women's cross country and track & field program in 2025-26. A 20-year veteran of the collegiate coaching ranks, Hoover previously served two years as an assistant coach with the Red Flash from 2000-2002.
Saint Francis cross country and track and field has had a long tradition of success before Hoover took over in 2012 and he has continued to build on the legacy in his time in Loretto. Hoover has helped the Red Flash to four track and field championships between the men and the women and the women’s cross country team won the 2016 NEC title. In addition, two athletes have competed in the NCAA Championships with Deshaun Jackson finishing fourth in the 110m hurdles to earn All-American first-team status. Sara Phelan also competed at the national championships in 2019 and finished 19th in the javelin.
Hoover was also instrumental in moving the home cross country course from Immergrun Golf Course to B & D Acres in Tyrone. The Red Flash has held home events at B & D for the last four years, including hosting the NEC Championships in 2022 and 2025. The 2017 women's cross country team won the NEC Championships and the 2016 Red Flash men took home the NEC Men's Track & Field Championships in 2019.
Saint Francis won the NEC Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023. It was the first time the Red Flash women’s track and field team won three titles in a row. The 2021 title was by one of the widest point margins in NEC history (82 points).
During Hoover’s time at Saint Francis, the squads have become perennial contenders in the NEC, and have captured two conference team titles, breaking several school records and having several athletes compete on the national stage with 15 competing at the NCAA East Preliminary along with Jackson and Phelan on the national stage. In his first 13 years as head coach, 35 times an athlete was named an outstanding performer at the NEC Championships, an athlete has won an event at the NEC Championships 119 times and 39 times cross country had a All-NEC performer.
Hoover's teams have excelled in the classroom, as well as in competition. Four of his six teams have won the Northeast Conference Team GPA award, earning the highest GPA in their sport in the conference: men’s and women’s Cross Country, and women’s indoor and outdoor Track & Field.
Hoover came to Loretto from Juniata College, where he served as an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s track & field and cross country teams from 2007 to 2012. While there, he helped the women’s cross country team to a Landmark Conference Championship in 2007. During his tenure Juniata produced three All-America selections, an NCAA Championship qualifier in cross country, and a NCAA provisional qualifier in track & field. The men’s cross country squad landed 14 student-athletes on the Landmark Conference’s first or second teams, while the women’s cross country team had 12 who were honored.
Prior to Juniata, Hoover spent five years as the head coach for the men’s and women’s cross country teams at Penn State Altoona, where he was instrumental in the founding of the program in 2002. In his first five years with the newly-minted program, Penn State Altoona teams placed among the top three in the conference championships eight times while earning one team championship and one individual championship. He was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005.
Prior to that, Hoover served as a graduate assistant coach with the Saint Francis men’s and women’s track & field and cross country teams from 2000 to 2002. During that time, the men’s teams won every NEC Championship, and future Olympian Brian Sell qualified for the 2001 NCAA National Championship in the 10,000m run. Kevin Doyle also captured the 2001 NEC individual cross country championship. The women’s cross country team captured the 2001 NEC team title. Five women and four men earned All-NEC cross country honors in 2001.
Hoover’s competitive career was spent in the Summer Biathlon, which combines the disciplines of cross country running and rifle marksmanship. He was a member of the United States Summer Biathlon National Team from 1997 to 2012. Hoover was a five-time National Champion (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012). He had a total of 13 top-ten finishes in the National Championships during his competitive career. He also represented the United States in five World Championships (2003, 2006, 2007. 2008, and 2009), earning two top-twenty finishes, while leading the United States team four times. He was the USA Flag Bearer at the World Championships in 2007, and was the USA Team Captain in 2009.
In 2016, Hoover was inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame.
Hoover received his Bachelor’s degree in Finance with a minor in Economics from the Pennsylvania State University in 1994, and earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Saint Francis University in 2002.
A native of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, Hoover now resides in Loretto.
