David Shoehalter officially took over the Bulldogs’ program as the Mark T. Young ’68 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field in 2010-11. Shoehalter, who had helped build the program in his 16 seasons as a coach at Yale before that, succeeded legendary Yale coach Mark Young ’68 in the director’s position.
During his tenure at Yale, Shoehalter has focused on the sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers on both the men’s and women’s teams. He has coached multiple Bulldog student-athletes to All-Ivy, All-East and All-American honors, including Yale's first IC4A champion in the hurdles since the 1970s. Under Shoehalter’s guidance, many Bulldogs have broken records in the sprints, jumps and hurdles. He also coached Joslyn Woodard ’06 to eight consecutive titles and a total of 20 career titles at the Ivy League’s Heptagonal Championships.
Shoehalter’s student-athletes also have a tradition of excelling in the classroom. Both the men's and women's track and field teams have earned the USTFCCCA's All-Academic Team Award every year of his tenure through 2022-23, posting one of the top two team GPAs among Ivy League teams every year on the men's side and eight out of 12 years on the women's side. Both the men's and women's cross country teams posted their highest GPAs in the history of the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Award program in the fall of 2020.
The Yale program has made dramatic strides in many areas during Shoehalter’s time, including the renovation of Coxe Cage in 2005 that featured the dedication of the William Clay Ford '48 Track & Field Center and a new banked indoor track named after Frank Shorter ’69, the former Yale cross country captain, NCAA champion, and two-time Olympic medalist.
In addition to his contributions as a coach at Yale, Shoehalter has also reached out to the larger track and field community, including serving as Past President of the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Track and Field Executive Committee. He has served as secretary of the Heptagonal Games Coaches Association and second vice president of the IC4A Track and Field Coaches Association.
A 1989 graduate of Penn with a degree in history, Shoehalter captained the Quakers as a senior and was a scorer in the hurdles and the pentathlon at the Heptagonal Championships. He earned multiple medals in the hurdles and as a member of the 4x400-meter relay team for the USA in the 1989 World Maccabiah Games. He then spent a season as a volunteer coach at his alma mater, working with Penn’s high jumpers in 1989-90.
Prior to coming to Yale Shoehalter was an assistant coach at Lafayette from 1990 to 1994. He coached the sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers.
