Muhlenberg College Athletics

A veteran of more than 30 years coaching experience at the college and high school levels, Doug Finley was named head coach of the Muhlenberg College men's and women's cross country teams in 2015.

The Mules qualified a total of six runners (four male, two female) for the NCAA Championships in Finley's first three years as head coach. One of the runners became the program's first conference champion, first regional runner-up and first All-American.

The Muhlenberg men came in fourth at the Centennial Conference Championships and eighth at the NCAA Mideast Regional in 2016 - their best finish in both meets since 2007.

In 2015, the women came in eighth at the NCAA Mideast Regional, tying for the second-best finish in program history, and the men placed in the top third in the region with a young squad that had one junior and no seniors in the top seven.

Finley was an assistant coach for the Mules from 2012 to 2014. In each of those seasons, Muhlenberg qualified a runner for the NCAA Championships in cross country. The 2012 qualifier came in 67th, at the time the highest finish ever by a Mule at the national meet.

Finley also is sprints and hurdles coach for the Muhlenberg track and field teams. In 2013, he coached an All-American in the women's 60-meter hurdles.

From 1997 to 2012, he coached at three area high schools, including two stints as head track and field coach at William Allen, as well as high schools in Ohio and Illinois. Finley was an assistant coach for a state championship team in cross country at Emmaus High School and coached individual state champions in cross country and the high hurdles.

Finley was a junior college All-American in the intermediate hurdles at Mohawk Valley Community College (N.Y.) before earning a Division I scholarship at Austin Peay State University, from where he graduated in 1979. A master All-American in the high and intermediate hurdles in 1998, Finley began his coaching career with stints at two colleges, the University of Rochester and Lehigh University.