The 2026-27 year marks Cyrus Hall’s fourth as the head men’s and women’s cross country and track & field coach at Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Head Coaching Highlights at OPSU (Through Three Seasons)
Across three years guiding the cross country and track & field programs at OPSU, Hall’s teams and athletes have accumulated:
- 66 individual All-SAC accolades* (64 track & field; two cross country)
- 14 individual SAC Champions*
- One SAC Championship Most Outstanding Athlete
- 18 SAC Athlete of the Week honors (16 track & field; two cross country)
- 15 NAIA National Qualifiers*
- Three individual NAIA All-American finishes
- Three individual NAIA National Championship podium placements
- One South Central Region Track Athlete of the Year
- 18 NAIA Scholar-Athletes (14 track & field; four cross country)
- Five CSC Academic All-District honorees
- Four top-five team finishes at SAC Championships (Three track & field; one cross country)
*A relay counts as four accolades, and an athlete can earn multiple all-conference or SAC championship accolades in the same meet if participating in multiple events*
Hall was tabbed as the head cross country/track & field coach for the Aggies in June 2023. Tasked with raising the programs' trajectories – including a track & field program that had just been re-established in 2022 and had not yet participated in an indoor season – Hall has since successfully guided OPSU to new heights.
In his first year with the Aggies, Hall led the men’s cross country team to a sixth-place showing at the SAC Championship, while the men’s outdoor track & field team finished fifth out of nine at the conference meet. That men’s track team qualified five total athletes in three separate events (4x100, 100m, 200m) to NAIA Nationals, where one sprinter took third place for podium and NAIA All-American honors in the 200-meters.
The 2024-25 track & field season was loaded with accomplishments throughout the year, as the Aggie men’s and women’s squads claimed 10 separate SAC Athlete of the Week honors. At the SAC Outdoor Championships in spring 2025, the Aggie women placed fourth behind two event wins and an athlete hailed as the Meet’s Most Outstanding Athlete. The men also performed well, taking fifth out of 12 while also claiming two individual championships. Between the squads, 28 total All-SAC honors were collected by Panhandle State athletes. Additionally, the OPSU men had 10 total national qualifiers (five indoor; five outdoor), and Hall coached an athlete to a runner-up finish in the 200-meters during both the NAIA Men’s Indoor and Outdoor National Championships.
In the fall of 2025, OPSU women’s cross country tied for its best finish ever in the SAC Championships (fifth) and tallied two All-SAC runners – the most in recent history and the first two all-conference cross country awards earned in Hall’s tenure. Both the OPSU men and women garnered one SAC Cross Country Runner of the Week award that season as the distance programs made significant progress. On the track, Panhandle State saw 15 Aggies earn 21 outdoor all-conference honors, as the women had one individual champion en route to the team placing within the top half (sixth of 12) in the SAC for the second straight year. The throws groups for both the men and women also made huge leaps, accounting for four Women’s SAC Field Athlete of the Week honors, two all-conference awards split between the men and women, and an abundance of school records broken.
Before OPSU
Throughout Hall’s assistant coaching career at three separate institutions, he helped produce 123 NAIA or NCAA Division II National Qualifiers, 35 NAIA or NCAA Division II All-Americans, two National Champions, and 31 NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
Drury University: 2022-2023 as an assistant coach (sprints/hurdles/jumps/throws)
- One NCAA Division II National Qualifier
- One Great Lakes Valley Conference Champion
- 10 All-Great Lakes Valley Conference athletes
- Seven school records
Lewis-Clark State College: 2014-2022 as a head assistant cross country/track & field coach (sprints/hurdles/jumps/combined events)
- 108 National Qualifiers
- 24 NAIA All-Americans
- Two NAIA National Champions
- 32 All-Cascade Conference athletes
- Eight Cascade Conference Champions
- 31 NAIA Scholar-Athletes
- 45 school records
Emporia State University: 2012-2014 as a graduate assistant cross country/track & field coach (jumps/combined events)
- 14 NCAA Division II National Qualifiers
- 11 NCAA Division II All-Americans
Hall had previous head coaching experience with the cross country/track & field programs at Pratt Community College from 2007-2012. He also spent 2006-2007 as an assistant distance coach at Sterling College.
Education/Certifications
Hall earned his Associate of Art in General Studies from Neosho County Community College and his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Sterling College. He also holds a Master of Science in Health, Physical Education & Recreation from Emporia State University. Hall’s licenses include being USATF Level 1 certified, USTFCCCA Technical Event and Strength & Conditioning certified, and CPR/First Aid certified.
Personal
Coach Hall resides in Goodwell, Oklahoma. He treasures spending time with his niece, Valerie, and nephew, Donovan. Hall also enjoys reading, being outdoors and watching sports – especially as a lifelong fan of the Kansas Jayhawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals.
