Ron Mann is a Hall of Fame coach in track and field, cross country, and marathon training. With a career spanning over 50 years, he has coached athletes at every level across the United States. Mann coached Team USA at the 2005 World Championships and the 2008 Olympic Games. Today, he continues to guide elite marathoners on the world stage.

His list of accomplishments is long and impressive. Mann has coached multiple champions of the Louisville Derby Festival Mini Marathon, four Los Angeles Marathon winners, one Chicago Marathon champion, and three Boston Marathon champions. Most recently, he coached 2025 Boston Marathon winner John Korir, who ran a remarkable time of 2:04:45.

Coach Mann graduated from Northern Arizona University in 1972, where he competed in cross country and track and field. He has been inducted three times into the NAU Athletics Hall of Fame—once as an individual (1999), and twice for coaching two national championship cross country teams. He was also inducted into the Arizona High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame in 1992. In recent years, Mann received two of the sport’s highest honors: induction into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame in 2020.

During his 25-year coaching tenure at NAU, he led his teams to 59 conference championships and coached over 100 All-Americans, along with several Olympic athletes representing Canada, Israel, Sweden, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Kenya.

In 2004, Coach Mann and his wife, Charlene, moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he continued his coaching career at the University of Louisville through 2013. There, he led the Cardinals to eight Big East team titles, coached six NCAA individual national champions, and guided three teams to top-10 national finishes. He also served on the NCAA Track and Field Committee and was elected president of the Division I U.S. Track & Field Coaches Association from 2011 to 2013.

The Manns have lived in Lake Forest since moving to Louisville and are members of the Lake Forest Country Club. Ron remains deeply involved in the sport, coaching national and international distance runners and marathoners. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Kenyan Kids Foundation, which supports the Transcend Talent Academy—a school for student-athletes in Cherangany, Kenya.

Locally, Coach Mann is committed to inspiring the next generation of athletes through his work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, training clinics at area high schools, podcasts, and appearances at community events and sporting goods stores.

He lives and coaches by the same guiding principle that has shaped his remarkable career:
“A sound mind, body, and soul through involvement in athletics.”