Joe Lynn returned to Hillsdale in July of 2026, taking charge of Hillsdale College’s men's and women's cross country programs as head coach, while also coaching the distance runners for the Charger track and field programs.
It’s Lynn’s second stint at Hillsdale after a highly successful run as an assistant cross country and track and field coach under then head coach Andrew Towne from 2014-16. His first tenure with the Chargers overlapped with two of the best seasons in program history, as Hillsdale earned five NCAA DII podium finishes as a team and was named the NCAA DII program for the year for the 2015-16 campaign.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to Hillsdale,” Lynn said. “It’s a special place and one that’s always remained close to my heart after I left. I'm excited to be back and can’t wait to get started.”
Lynn’s coaching had a huge impact on Hillsdale’s team success from 2014-16, as he directly coached nine NCAA Champions, 37 All-Americans, four National Athletes of the Year, six Midwest Athletes of the Year, 31 Academic All-Americans, 16 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champions, and two Midwest Region Cross Country Champions. He worked directly with the most decorated athlete Hillsdale has ever produced, Chargers Athletics Hall of Famer Emily Oren, who won seven of those individual championships and was named the 2016 NCAA Division II Female Athlete of the Year.
For his work at Hillsdale, Lynn was named USTFCCCA Assistant Coach of the Year three times, and won four USTFCCCA Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year awards.
Lynn returns to Hillsdale from University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where served as the 49ers’ head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach for nine seasons from fall 2017 to spring 2026. During his time he turned the 49ers distance program into a force to be reckoned with at the NCAA DI level, first in Conference USA and later in the American Athletic Conference.
Under Lynn’s guidance, Charlotte achieved its first national ranking in men’s cross country in program history and qualified for the program’s first NCAA DI Cross Country Championship meet in 2020. He played a part in 20 team conference championships across cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field in the C-USA and AAC, and twice swept C-USA team titles on the men’s side in 2020-21 and 2022-23.
He also led the 49ers women’s cross country team to their highest ever NCAA Southeast Region ranking and season finish in program history in 2023.
Lynn arrived in Charlotte from Miami (OH) University. In his first job after leaving Hillsdale in 2016, Lynn served as an assistant track and field and cross country coach for the Redhawks and was a part of the only NCAA DI program in Ohio to have an NCAA qualifier in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track in the 2016-17 season, and coached Miami (OH)’s first female NCAA DI Cross Country National Championships qualifier since 2010.
A 2004 graduate of Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lynn was a gifted runner himself in college and a member of the Saints’ 2004 NAIA Runner-Up men’s cross country team as a senior.
He got his first job in coaching at Grand Valley State University, where he worked from 2006 to 2011 and helped legendary coach Jerry Baltes build the Lakers into a national powerhouse, recording 20 top-10 team finishes across cross country and track in five seasons, and directly coaching seven NCAA Champions, 90 All-Americans, and 79 GLIAC Champions. He helped the Lakers capture the first women’s triple crown in NCAA history in 2010-11, winning national titles in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field, and capturing NCAA DII Women’s Program of the Year honors in 2009, 2010 and 2011 from the USTFCCCA.
From 2011 to 2014, Lynn also served as the Head Cross Country Coach at the University of Missouri, recruiting six-time NCAA Champion Karissa Schweizer to the Tigers, leading the men to their first NCAA national poll ranking in over a decade, and the women’s program to its highest NCAA Midwest Regional finish in nearly a decade as well.
