Paul Harkins has served as the Yale men’s cross country, middle distance and distance coach since the fall of 2011. The Bulldogs have enjoyed great progress under Harkins, including a 2019 cross country season that culminated with a score of 97 at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships -- an improvement of 79 points compared to the previous year. Yale had a top-three finisher for the third time in five years. In indoor track, the Bulldogs had an Ivy League champion in the mile and more than doubled their score from the previous edition of Heps.
In Harkins' first nine seasons he has led the Bulldogs to numerous team and individual accomplishments, including four All-Americans, six Ivy League champions, 18 All-Ivy League athletes, seven Cross Country all-region athletes, four NCAA Cross Country individual qualifiers, two USATF National Track and Field Championship qualifiers and the first sub-4:00 miler in school history.
Thanks in part to Harkins' work, Yale has three entries in the top five fastest Ivy League athletes: James Randon, 1500m – 4th, 3:37.93; James Randon, Indoor Mile – 7th, 3:58.85; Kevin Dooney, Indoor 5k – 7th, 13:59.06
Harkins also has coached the 2017 William Neely Mallory Award Winner (Yale’s male senior athlete of the year), the 2017 Ivy League Championship Indoor Athlete of the Meet, the 2016 Ivy League Cross Country Champion (Yale's first individual winner since 1989) and a 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track Championship point scorer (Yale's first since 1991).
Under Harkins Yale had its best team cross country Ivy League finish since 2004 (third in 2015 – its best team point total since 1990).
Harkins has coached the Bulldogs to multiple additions to the Yale track record books, including five of the top six outdoor 1,500 meter times in school history (including the school record), the top eight indoor mile times in school history, the top four indoor 3,000 meter times in school history, four of the top five outdoor 3,000 meter times in school history (including the school record), three of the top four outdoor 5,000 meter times in school history (including the school record), and six of the top seven outdoor 10,000 meter times in school history (including the school record).
The Bulldogs have excelled academically during Harkins’ tenure, earning USTFCCCA All-Academic Team recognition 17 times. They have had 24 athletes earn individual All-Academic honors from the USTFCCCA.
Prior to coming to Yale, Harkins spent four seasons as an assistant coach at New Mexico State. There he helped the women’s cross country team to the first WAC championship in school history in 2009, just two years after he took over a team that had finished seventh in 2006. He was also a part of the men’s cross country team’s highest finish in school history -- second place in 2010. The men were coming off a seventh-place finish when Harkins arrived in Las Cruces in 2007.
Harkins was named the WAC Conference Women’s Coach of the Year in 2009 at New Mexico State after leading the Aggies to the league title. That same season, he coached the WAC Women’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year. In 2009 and 2010, he coached the WAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year. All told, Harkins coached five individual WAC champions and 53 all-conference honorees, including the Aggies’ first male cross country runner to earn back-to-back all-conference honors since 1971-72. His runners set nine school records and made 60 additions to the school’s top 10 list. Harkins’ teams also achieved success in the classroom, as both the men and the women were recognized as USTFCCCA All-Academic teams in 2009 and 2010.
Prior to joining the New Mexico State staff, Harkins spent a season as an assistant at Brown and two seasons as an assistant at Missouri State. He coached at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, Wash., from 2001 to 2004.
Harkins received a B.A. in economics from the University of Washington, where he ran cross country and track, in 2000. He also has a Master’s of Science in health promotion and wellness management from Missouri State.
