Daniel Gooris enters his third full season as an assistant track & field coach at North Dakota State in 2017-18. A former NCAA All-American, Gooris joined the NDSU track & field programs as an assistant coach on Feb. 11, 2015.
In his tenure at NDSU, Gooris has guided the men's multi-event program and the women's pole vaulters to sustained success at the conference level and increased recognition on the national stage. The Bison men's decathletes ended the 2017 season ranked fifth in the NCAA in the USTFCCCA Event Squad Rankings, as NDSU was the only program in the country with five decathletes over 6,300 points.
The Bison men swept the top five places in the decathlon at both the 2016 and 2017 Summit League Outdoor Championships and took five of the top seven places in the heptathlon at the 2016 and 2017 Summit League Indoor Championships. Since Gooris arrived at NDSU, all six conference titles in the men's multi-events have been won by Bison.
In the women's pole vault, Gooris has coached Lauren Gietzen, Anna Benke, Brittany Stangl and Klara Lyon into the NDSU all-time top five over the past two seasons. Gietzen, Benke and Stangl each earned berths at the NCAA West Prelims in the event.
Gooris also guided 10 Summit League placewinners in the men's 60m hurdles and 110m hurdles in 2016 and 2017 combined.
Gooris served as an assistant coach at Western Illinois University for the 2013-14 season and had also been a volunteer assistant at Columbus State University in Georgia in 2014-15. In his coaching career, Gooris has directed athletes in the sprints, jumps, hurdles, pole vault, javelin and multi-events.
“We are excited to welcome Daniel and his wife Krista to the Bison family,” said NDSU head women's track & field coach Stevie Keller upon his hire. “Daniel brings a great deal of knowledge and passion for the sport of track & field that will help the Bison become stronger at the conference, regional and national levels. His experience as a decathlete has been impressive and gives him the opportunity to coach a number of events.”
Gooris competed in college for the University of Northern Iowa, where he earned four All-America honors as one of the top multi-event athletes and pole vaulters in school history. He was a three-time All-American in the multi-events and a seven-time Missouri Valley Conference champion.
A native of Albuquerque, N.M., Gooris was one of the top multi-event athletes in the U.S. in his post-collegiate career. He placed third in the heptathlon at the 2014 USATF Indoor Championships and eighth in the decathlon at the USATF Outdoor Championships in 2013. Gooris represented Team USA in the Thorpe Cup decathlon in 2013, earning a fourth-place finish.
Gooris graduated from UNI in 2013 with a major in exercise science and a minor in psychology. He and his wife, Krista, live in Fargo with their son, Silas.
