JOHN MOLVAR, HEAD COACH
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Entering his fourth season as the men's and women's head coach for cross country, indoor, and outdoor track & field, John Molvar has been named men’s cross country Commonwealth Coast Conference Coach of the Year 3 consecutive years and women’s cross country Conference Coach of the Year in 2008. His men’s cross country teams have achieved the highest finishes in school history in the NCAA Region with 2 consecutive top 20 finishes in 2008 and 2009 and his men’s teams have also achieved 4 consecutive 2nd place finishes in the conference. His women’s cross country teams placed 2nd in the conference in both 2007 and 2008 and the 2006, 2007 and 2008 teams all placed in the top 25 at the NCAA Region. Three different athletes on his teams have been named Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year. Twice his teams have won the Conference Sportsmanship Award.
In Track & Field, his women’s teams have won 3 consecutive Conference Championships. In each of his 3 seasons the number of men and women qualifying for the NCAA DIII New England Indoor and Outdoor Championships has increased with 12 different individuals and 8 separate relay teams qualifying during the 2008-2009 school year. His teams have rewritten the school record book setting a combined 93 men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor school records his first year, 54 in his 2nd year and 51 last year. Last year 8 different athletes on his teams achieved Conference All Academic Honors.
Prior to Gordon, he was assistant middle distance coach at Ipswich High School in 2005-2006 and coached 3 different athletes to state qualifying times in the 600 and 800.
He has been competing at, a fan of, coaching individuals and studying the sport of running for 35 years. He graduated from UMass-Lowell in 1983 with a degree in Chemical Engineering and went on to spend 22 years as a nuclear engineer for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. At UMass-Lowell he competed with both the cross country and track programs and was a member of an NCAA Division II Championship-qualifying cross country team. He continued to race post-collegiately, competing in various road events for 20 more years. His personal bests are 54:06 for 10 miles, 32:33 for 10K, 25:55 for 8K, 15:35 for 5K, 9:39 for 2 miles and 4:29 for the mile.
He graduated from Melrose High School were he was captain of the cross country and track teams and qualified for the state meet in the mile.
An avid student of the sport, Molvar has studied many of the dominant training systems over the years and is an expert on the coaching principles of Arthur Lydiard, arguably the most influential coach of all time. "My philosophy is to treat each athlete as a separate individual, emphasizing their long term development which I believe is what is best for the team in the long run. We use Lydiard’s principles in a disciplined and character building but enjoyable atmosphere" said Coach Molvar.
John, a lifelong Christian, resides in Newburyport with wife of 20 years, Karen Molvar, and their two sons.
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