Don Strametz (2025) - CSUN Athletics Hall of Fame

Don Strametz

Induction:
2025

Don Strametz was inducted into the CSUN Athletics Hall of Fame in 2025. Strametz coached the Matador women's track & field team for 31 years and the men's team for 26 years, retiring in 2011. He was also in charge of the CSUN men's and women's cross country teams from 1979 to 2011.

One of the most successful coaches in CSUN history, Strametz received an astounding 29 Coach of the Year awards while winning 21 conference championships. He led CSUN to 13 Big West Conference championships, eight on the women's side and five on the men's side. He also won America West championships in 1995 and 1996 (men and women) as well as Big Sky titles in 1997, 1999 and 2000 on the women's side. More than 100 of his student-athletes earned All-Big West honors, while nearly 150 of his student-athletes were honored by the Big Sky Conference. Strametz_Don_07

Strametz oversaw CSUN's transition from NCAA Div. II to Div. I, where the Matador women finished as national runners-up in cross country in 1985 and again in 1986. Led by the school's first All-American, Darcy Arreola, CSUN finished fourth at the 1989 NCAA Div. II National Championship meet, as Arreola became the school's first NCAA champion, winning the 1,500-meter title at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

In 1990, CSUN's final season at the Div. II level, the Matador men finished second at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships while the women placed fifth for the second consecutive season. The fifth-place finish for the Matador women capped a streak of six top-10 finishes.

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Strametz, who produced 11 Division I outdoor All-Americans and five indoor All-Americans during his tenure, is credited with coaching a total of 10 NCAA Div. II individual national champions including Carol Keller (3,000 meters - 1983), Marlene Harmon (Heptathlon - 1983), Colleen Gainey (Javelin - 1987), Arreola (1,500, 3,000 meters - 1988, 3,000 meters - 1989), Walt Stewart (High Jump - 1989), Kevin Hendrix (100 meters - 1990), Erick McBride (800 meters - 1990) and Chris Perry (Long Jump - 1990).

In recent years, DaShalle Andrews was the NCAA Long Jump champion outdoors in 2007 and Reindell Cole followed suit, winning the indoor title in 2008.

Strametz was also a 2015 inductee into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Hall of Fame and is also a member of the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame.

Strametz is the 15th head coach to be inducted into the CSUN Hall of Fame, joining fellow track and field head coaches Barbara Swerkes and Cliff Abel, who were inducted in 2009 and 2014 respectively.