Staff Directory
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- Assistant Coach
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Connar Southard enters his first season as an assistant coach of the St. Cloud State Track & Field and Cross Country teams in 2026-27.
A former D-II national champion, Southard joined the Huskies staff in August 2026 and serves as the distance coach for the program. Additionally, he oversees the strength & conditioning for the track & field and cross country teams.
Prior to St. Cloud, Southard spent the 2025-26 season as the head cross country coach and assistant track & field coach at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas. Before Fort Scott, Southard spent a year (2024-25) as an assistant track & field and cross country coach at D-II Northwood University in Midland, Michigan where his athletes achieved 14 new top 10 all-time marks on the track. He also coached Northwood’s first NCAA Division II provisional national qualifying mark on the women's distance side in over 10 years.
Southard began his coaching career at fellow NCAA Central Region school and Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) member, Central Missouri, spending two years (2022-24) as a graduate assistant coach for the track & field and cross country programs. In his first year at UCM, he coached five new top 10 program performances on the track and mentored an All-MIAA performer in the 800m. In his second year, he assisted in coaching two All-Central Region honorees, including one athlete who qualified as an individual for the NCAA Division-II National Championships.
Before starting his coaching career, Southard was a decorated student-athlete at another central region school and MIAA member, Pittsburg State (Kan.). A five-year member of the track & field and cross country programs, he was a 13-time All-MIAA selection, three-time All-American, a national champion and part of the Gorillas 2022 NCAA Division-II Outdoor National Championship team. His collegiate highlights include winning a national title in the distance medley relay (DMR) at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships and setting multiple program records. Southard graduated as the program’s record holder in the 1,500m (3:42.90) and the DMR (9:37.45), with the latter ranking as the second-fastest time in NCAA Division II history at the time it was run. He also finished among Pittsburg State’s all-time top 10 in the indoor mile (2nd – 4:07.97), indoor 800m (4th – 1:52.55) and outdoor 800m (10th – 1:52.20).
A Pittsburg, Kansas native, Southard earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science with minors in public health and psychology from Pittsburg State in 2022 and his master’s degree in kinesiology from Central Missouri in 2024.
