Jim Garnhan enters his first season with the Boilermakers, coming to West Lafayette from intrastate rival Notre Dame, where he assisted the Fighting Irish program for 10 seasons. While in South Bend he mentored a combined 14 All-Americans, 18 NCAA qualifiers, 61 NCAA Regional qualifiers, 17 conference titles, nine school records and one Capital One Academic All-America honor.
His most-recent, standout pupils at Notre Dame include Nate Richartz, Matthew Birzer and Carly Loefell, who all reached All-America status under his tutelage over the past few seasons. Richartz was a five-time All-American and three-time conference champ in the men’s pole vault, setting the Fighting Irish’s school record and tying the ACC record with a clearance of 5.70 meters (18-08.50) at the conference championship meet. Birzer earned a pair of All-America honors in the men’s high jump, including a second-team honor outdoors in 2018, while Carly Loeffel posted the highest women’s heptathlon total in Notre Dame history (5,594) and earned All-America honors at the 2013 NCAA Championships.
Prior to his time at Notre Dame, Garnhan spend three years at the University of Tulsa where he mentored an NCAA qualifier in the shot put, a USATF indoor shot put qualifier, 17 NCAA Regional qualifiers, four Conference USA champions and 20 All-C-USA athletes. In just three seasons his student-athletes produced a combined 18 program records for the Golden Hurricane.
His coaching career began as an assistant at the University of Buffalo, where he spent five seasons supervising multi-event athletes, javelin throwers and hurdlers. He coached a USATF indoor heptathlon qualifier, a Canadian Olympic trials qualifier in the women's heptathlon, two NCAA qualifiers, four NCAA East Regional qualifiers and five Mid-American Conference champions. Garnham earned his bachelor's degree in history from Kent State in 1998 and will be joined in West Lafayette by his wife, Kelly.
His most-recent, standout pupils at Notre Dame include Nate Richartz, Matthew Birzer and Carly Loefell, who all reached All-America status under his tutelage over the past few seasons. Richartz was a five-time All-American and three-time conference champ in the men’s pole vault, setting the Fighting Irish’s school record and tying the ACC record with a clearance of 5.70 meters (18-08.50) at the conference championship meet. Birzer earned a pair of All-America honors in the men’s high jump, including a second-team honor outdoors in 2018, while Carly Loeffel posted the highest women’s heptathlon total in Notre Dame history (5,594) and earned All-America honors at the 2013 NCAA Championships.
Prior to his time at Notre Dame, Garnhan spend three years at the University of Tulsa where he mentored an NCAA qualifier in the shot put, a USATF indoor shot put qualifier, 17 NCAA Regional qualifiers, four Conference USA champions and 20 All-C-USA athletes. In just three seasons his student-athletes produced a combined 18 program records for the Golden Hurricane.
His coaching career began as an assistant at the University of Buffalo, where he spent five seasons supervising multi-event athletes, javelin throwers and hurdlers. He coached a USATF indoor heptathlon qualifier, a Canadian Olympic trials qualifier in the women's heptathlon, two NCAA qualifiers, four NCAA East Regional qualifiers and five Mid-American Conference champions. Garnham earned his bachelor's degree in history from Kent State in 1998 and will be joined in West Lafayette by his wife, Kelly.