Cross Country
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- jdrake@mail.fresnostate.edu
- Phone:
- 559-278-6183
 THE DRAKE FILE
Hometown: Gillette, Wyo
Spouse:Â Colleen
Children:Â Riley, Benjamin
COACHING HISTORY
Fresno State
2019-present: Head Coach
Washington
2008-18: Associate Head Track & Field Coach
Washington State
2002-09: Assistant Track & Field Coach
2004-09: Head Cross Country Coach
Colorado
1995-2002: Assistant Track & Field Coach
RUNNING EXPERIENCE
Colorado
1989-1994
EDUCATION
Colorado (1994)
Bachelor's in Environmental Conservation
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Last Updated: June 17, 2024
Jason Drake enters his sixth year as Fresno State's head track and field and cross country coach.
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Since Drake took of the helm, Fresno State's women's outdoor track and field team has finished no lower than a fifth in four Mountain West Outdoor Championships, a place the Bulldogs had only bettered four times since 2000.
His 2024 squad matched the program's highest finish at a MW Outdoor Championship, placing third, while collecting its most points at a MW championship with 139 points. The 139 points were the most for a third-place team at a MW Outdoor Championship since 2006, and the most since the current 11-team conference began in 2014. Indoors, the 'Dogs placed third, three spots higher than they ever had, scoring 87 points.
Also in 2024, his men's team finished with its most points since 2016 (25).
Drake's first year at Fresno State was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic which canceled all athletic competition in mid-March. In his first full season, Drake guided the Bulldogs to a fifth-place finish at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships with 56 points. It was was only Fresno State's third top-half finish since joining the Mountain West for the 2013 season.
In five seasons, Drake's track and field and cross country team's have earned 14 USTFCCCA All-Academic team awards with the women's program's earning four consecutively. Fourteen athletes have earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors.
On the track, his athletes have totaled 12 indoor All-MW honors and 26 outdoors. Seven athletes have earned individual conference titles. In total, 32 athletes have qualified for the NCAA West regional. Five have advanced to the NCAA Championships (4 outdoor/1 indoor).
Drake was hired by Director of Athletics Terry Tumey on Aug. 21, 2019. He came to Fresno State State with more than 20 years of experience at the Division I level within the Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences on his resume.
PRIOR TO FRESNO STATE
Washington
Drake came to Fresno State after nine seasons at Washington where the Huskies qualified its women's team to the NCAA Cross Country Championships every season with four Top-10 finishes, including capturing trophies in 2009 (3rd-place) and 2011 (2nd-place)Â while the men made nationals in 2009, 2014, 2017, and tied the second-best finish in school history in 2015 with an eighth-place finish. On the track, 29Â different distance runners have earned All-America honors since 2009. Three UW women won Pac-12 Cross Country individual titles during Drake's time on staff while men's and women's distance runners combined for eight Pac-12 track titles.
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Some of the projects Drake oversaw in addition to regular coaching and recruiting duties included meet management of Washington's series of renowned meets at the Dempsey Indoor facility, which brings several thousand athletes each year to Seattle. He also handles implementation of Husky track and field and cross country camps, alumni relations, and fundraising for Washington's outdoor track facility, which broke ground in 2011 and was inaugurated in the spring of 2013, and then hosted the 2016 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships, the first time since 1997 that Washington was able to host the meet.
Washington StateÂ
Drake served the previous seven years as the head distance coach at Washington State, serving as assistant distance coach in charge of the Cougars cross country program the first two seasons before being officially named cross country head coach in 2004. Prior to that Drake began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Colorado, where he was an assistant distance coach from 1995-2002 and also served as recruiting coordinator during the final three years of his stint.
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Some of Drake's achievements at WSU included leading the men's cross country squad to the NCAA Championships in 2006, its first national meet appearance in eight years and just the second since 1984. Drake mentored Haley Paul to a program-record 14th-place finish at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships and All-America honors. Three more Cougars earned All-American honors on the track under Drake, winning two Pac-10 titles as well.
ColoradoÂ
Drake's time at Colorado coincided with one of the most successful runs by any distance program over the past twenty years. The men's team won the NCAA title in 2001, following a runner-up finish in 2000. The Colorado women were team champs in 2000 as well as runners-up in 1995. Both team titles were achieved by athletes recruited and coached in part by Drake under head coach Mark Wetmore. On an individual level, Drake worked with All-Americans Lesley Higgins (second in mile at NCAA Indoor), Steve Slattery (second in steeplechase at NCAA Outdoor), and Sara Gorton (fourth in 5k at NCAA Outdoors).
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Born in Aberdeen, S.D., Drake's prep career at Campbell County High School, in Gillette, Wyoming, included seven state titles. He then moved on to Colorado, running middle distance events on the track and for the cross country squad. Drake earned All-America honors as a member of CU's 1994 indoor distance medley relay team and also garnered several Academic All-Big Eight Conference accolades while earning a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental conservation.
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In 1999, Drake founded the Colorado Elite Track Club, a nonprofit club for post-collegiate female middle and long distance runners. The club was home for several world-class runners including Shayne Culpepper (2000 Olympic team 1500m and two World Cross Country teams), Janet Trujillo (2002 World Cross Country team and fifth place in 2001 USATF 1500m Outdoor Championships), and Sarah Toland (2002 World Cross Country team).
