Beth Alford-Sullivan is Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the University of Connecticut (July 2023), after eight seasons at University of Tennessee as the director of track & field and cross country.
Prior to her tenure at Tennessee, Sullivan spent 15 seasons at Penn State, including eight as the director and head coach of a combined men’s and women’s program. Sullivan originally joined Penn State in the fall of 1999 as head coach of the women’s track and field program.
Under her leadership at Penn State, the program produced 158 All-Americans, nine Big Ten team titles, 88 Big Ten individual champions, 19 Big Ten Champion relays, and four individual NCAA champions. The Nittany Lions also won one NCAA Champion relay, one Big Ten “Triple Crown,” eight Big Ten Championship records, and five Big Ten Athletes of the Year.
Excellence in the classroom was also a staple under Sullivan at Penn State, as the women’s team earned United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honors in each of her 14 seasons. In 2010, they were named the USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year. The Nittany Lions also piled up numerous All-Big Ten academic honors.
Sullivan joined Penn State after five seasons at Stanford, where she coached more than 30 NCAA All-American athletes and one NCAA individual champion as the women’s coordinator for the Cardinal track program. Sullivan was also the head coach at Mankato State from 1993-95 and an assistant at Southeast Missouri State from 1991-93. She graduated with a degree in social work in 1989 from the University of Minnesota, where she competed in cross country and track and field, serving as captain of the cross country team from her sophomore through her senior seasons.
