Forest Braden is in his seventh season at William & Mary, serving as the head distance coach for the Tribe. Braden is responsible for all coaching, recruiting, and administrative aspects for leading W&M's nationally-renowned cross country teams in the fall, and for the distance and middle-distance athletes during the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons. He is the 22nd head coach of the Tribe men's team since 1924-25, and the ninth to lead the W&M women since 1977-78.
In his first year, 2017-18, Braden led the W&M men to the CAA cross country championship, sweeping the year-end awards including his first Coach of the Year award. JP Trojan was the individual conference champion and also earned CAA Athlete of the Year honors, while Zach Skolnekovich was named the conference Rookie of the Year as seven runners were named to the All-CAA team. During the track campaigns, Trojan was an NCAA Semifinals qualifier outdoors in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m, becoming the first Tribe men's athlete to attempt that double at the same NCAA meet, and earned CAA Track Athlete of the Year to become the first to sweep the Athlete of the Year honors since 2014. W&M took the top four spots in the 800m at the CAA Championships behind individual champion Raul Chavez-Gutierrez, with Trojan also winning the 5,000m and Faris Sakallah completing his career with the championship at 10,000m. In addition to Trojan, the Tribe also had Dawson Connell and Ryan McGorty both qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1,500m.
Heading into the 2018-19 season, Braden was given charge of the Tribe's highly successful women's program as well. His athletes swept the CAA cross country championships, and Braden became the first person in CAA history to win Coach of the Year for both men's and women's cross country in a career, much less the same season. The Tribe had a combined eight athletes earn All-CAA honors, led by a runner-up finish for Ryan McGorty and third-place showing for Lauren Finikiotis. On the track, Miles Owens and Ryan McGorty both earned honorable-mention All-America honors outdoors, after advancing to the national semifinals in the 800m and the 1,500m, respectively. Both men also won CAA titles in their respective events, and Evan Goodell swept the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the conference meet. Owens would go on to be named the CAA Track Athlete of the Year, while Goodell earned CAA Rookie of the Year honors. Chris Short, after finishing second in the IC4A indoor 800m in 2018, won the IC4A Championship at 1,000m during the winter indoor campaign in 2019.
The 2019 cross country season saw Braden win his fourth CAA Coach of the Year honor, after leading the W&M men to their 20th-consecutive CAA Championship. That's the second-longest active streak in the nation, and one of just four winning streaks in NCAA Division I history that reached 20+ years. The Tribe men had five athletes named All-CAA, and the W&M women also had a conference-best four women named All-CAA as well.
Braden came to Williamsburg after a very successful eight-year run on the other end of Route 60, at UCLA. During his time in Westwood, the Bruins reached the NCAA Cross Country Championships six times, with the men finishing in the top-20 four times in the last five years, and the women finishing 27th in 2014 and 28th in 2016. The 2012 men's team, his first to make NCAAs, finished 13th overall for UCLA's best finish since 1985.
Across all seasons, Braden's athletes earned a total of 16 All-America honors in his final six years, including three in cross country, nine in outdoor track and field, and the men's distance medley relay that finished seventh in the nation at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships. During the 2016-17 school year, three athletes earned second-team All-America honors during the outdoor championships, including Julia Rizk in the 800m as well as Daniel de la Torre in the 5,000m and Austin O'Neil in the 3,000m steeplechase, while Ferdinand Edman took 14th nationally in cross country.
Braden has also been active in the national and international coaching ranks, serving as the men's and women's distance coach during the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea. He helped both select and coach the U.S. team in the middle and distance events at the international championships, including helping guide Shaquille Walker to the gold medal in the 800m run. Braden was also the coach for elite marathoner Katja Goldring, who was ninth at the 2016 women's marathon Olympic Trials, as well as for Nick Hartle, who made three-straight USAT&F Championships in the 800m.
Before going to UCLA, Braden was an assistant at Gonzaga for the 2008-09 school year, helping begin the turnaround for the Gonzaga program. Braden was a standout runner during his college days at Boise State, earning three All-American honors and seven WAC championships as a Bronco. He helped lead Boise State to five WAC team championships during his career, including sweeping the indoor and outdoor conference championships his final two years. After graduating with his degree in history in 2007, Braden ran professionally for a year with Team Indiana Elite, recording five top-10 finishes on the USAT&F championship circuit.
Braden and his wife, Shelly, reside in Williamsburg with their three cats.
