Dan Lange - Assistant Coach - Women's Track & Field Coaches

Dan Lange

Title:
Assistant Coach

A CSUN alum and former All-American, Dan Lange completed his second season as an assistant coach to the Matadors in 2024-25.

Lange has coached Trey Knight to three All-American awards including a pair of national runner-up finishes in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships from 2024-25. Knight would also earn First-Team All-American honors in the hammer throw at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships. In his two seasons, Lange has coached Knight to a pair of Big West hammer throw titles and MPSF weight throw titles while the CSUN standout was named 2025 NCAA West Region Field Athlete of the Year. Knight would qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, finishing ninth in the hammer throw as well.

On the women's side at CSUN, Lange menored Summer Mosley to standout 2025 season where she won the hammer throw and the discus titles at the Big West Outdoor Championships. Mosley would qualify would set a PR in the hammer throw, posting the second-best mark in school history before qualifying in two events at the NCAA West First Round.

Lange joined the Matadors are spending 32 seasons with USC, coaching throwers to All-American honors over 70 times. He has mentored USC throwers to 13 school records and 29 individual Pac-12 titles.

Over his career, Lange coached nearly all of the top-10 male and female hammer throwers in USC history as well as nearly every record holder in the men's and women's hammer, discus, javelin and shot put. Over a 21-season stretch from 1993-2013, Lange guided at least one hammer thrower to All-America honors.

During the 2021 season, Lange helped Matthew Katnik and McKay Johnson earn second-team All-America honors in the shot put along with Nathan Bultman in the hammer throw. Bultman also won the Pac-12 hammer throw. Katnik would set the USC shot put record with a mark of 68-1.50 (20.76m). In the 2021 indoor season, Johnson set the USC indoor shot put record with a mark of 70-4.50 (21.45m) and Knight set the Trojan freshman weight throw record with a mark of 64-8.50 (19.72m).

In 2020, Lange coached Bultman to an indoor All-American honors in the weight throw, and in 2019 he guided Katnik to All-America honors in the shot put in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. In 2018, Lange coached Bultman to the Pac-12 men’s hammer throw title and to No. 10 on USC’s all-time list in the event. Nick Ponzio and Breana Jemison, two more he coached, would advance to the NCAA semifinals in the shot put, earning second-team All-America honors. Jemison also set the USC women’s shot put record with a mark of 57-7.75 (17.57m).

In 2017, he guided Ponzio and Brittany Mann to All-America honors in the shot put, and Mann and Matthew Katnik posted Trojan all-time top 10 marks in the shot put. During the indoor season, Mann broke the USC women’s weight throw and shot put records and became an indoor shot put All-American, while Katnik had the second-farthest shot put mark in school history.

Lange coached Tera Novy to All-America honors in the discus throw during the 2016 season, while Novy set the school discus throw record with a mark of 200-5. The season before, Lange coached Conor McCullough to the 2015 NCAA men's hammer throw title and Alexanda Collatz, Novy and Nick Ponzio to All-American honors. McCullough represented the USA in the hammer throw at the 2016 Olympics.

In 2014, Lange coached Collatz to All-American honors while Collatz and Remington Conatster won Pac-12 titles. His athletes scored seven times at the conference meet. In 2013, Conatser, Jenny Ozorai and Collatz all earned All-America honors. In addition, Conatser won a Pac-12 title and Ozorai placed second and Collatz fourth in their events at the Pac-12 Championships.

In 2012, Lange collected West Region Assistant Coach of the Year on the women's side. That season, he coached Ozorai and Marissa Minderler in the hammer and Kristine Busa in the javelin to first team All-America honors. Minderler also won her second-straight Pac-12 hammer title.

In 2011, Lange mentored Trey Henderson and Ozorai in the hammer to All-America honors, with Henderson, Minderler (hammer) and Cooper Thompson (javelin) winning Pac-10 titles.

During 2010, Lange coached Henderson in the hammer and Aaron Dan in the discus as both earned All-American honors with fifth-place finishes at the NCAAs. In 2008, Lange helped guide Eva Orban to the NCAA title in the women's hammer, while Corey White took second in the men's javelin. A year earlier, they both were NCAA runners up.

In 2008, Lange coached Corey White to a new school standard in the javelin with a throw of 267-10, more than 23 feet farther than the previous school record while White finished second at the NCAAs. A year later, White again placed second at the NCAAs and pushed his school record in the javelin to 272-2. On the women’s side, Lange helped Orban become the first Trojan female to win an NCAA title in the hammer and broke her own school record with a throw of 230-3.

The 2007 season saw Lange earn West Region top assistant coach in men's throws for a second-straight season. He helped Noah Bryant set the school record in the shot, a record that had stood for 35 years, and won the NCAA indoor and outdoor shot titles. In addition, Adam Midles was an All-American and had the then fourth-best hammer throw in school history, Bryant had the eighth best hammer mark, William Denbo the sixth best shot put and Stenn Parton the ninth farthest javelin throw by a Trojan. Lange also guided Orban to All-American honors in the hammer again (3rd place), a NCAA West hammer title and a second-place finish at the Pac-10 Championships.

Lange received West Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors for his work with the men's throwers. He helped three men's throwers compete at the NCAA Championships while four throwers competed on the women's team. He coached three USC record-setters in 2006 as Orban set the school record in the hammer with a Pac-10 and West Regional record-throw of 226-8, Kate Hutchinson set the then-USC record in the discus with a toss of 189-5 and Karen Freberg set the shot put standard with a mark of 57-7.50. Orban won the hammer at the Pac-10s and the NCAA West Regional and place second at the NCAAs. Hutchinson placed second at the Pac-10 Championships and won the discus competition at the NCAA West Regional which gave USC a share of the women's title. He also guided two male Trojans to All-American honors as Bryant placed seventh in the shot and Midles seventh in the men's hammer.

Lange also helped Midles place sixth in the hammer throw at the NCAA Championships in 2006 while he helped Michael Murray collect All-America honors in the hammer throw in 2004. In addition, the 2004 season saw L’Orangerie Crawford earn All-America in the women’s shot put and Inga Stasiulionyte finish second at the NCAAs in the women’s javelin throw. Stasiulionyte also threw 204-3 (62.27m) to win the Lithuanian Championship and qualify for the Olympics. In 2003, Stasiulionyte placed second in the javelin throw and Julianna Tudja was second in the hammer throw at the NCAA Championships. In 2002, Lange helped Stasiulionyte place second in the javelin and Crawford finish sixth in the hammer throw at the NCAAs.

In 2001, his throwers helped the USC women’s team earn its first NCAA women’s team title as Stasiulionyte won the javelin throw as a freshman, Tudja was third in the hammer throw and Cynthia Ademiluyi was third in the shot put. Norbert Horvath placed fifth in the men’s hammer throw to make it a nine-year run by the USC men with a hammer throw All-American. It was Horvath’s third-straight time scoring in the event at NCAAs and he also won the Pac-12 title for the third straight season.

At the 2000 Pac-10 Championships, USC’s men continued its men's hammer domination, sweeping the top four spots to key the Trojans' title run. Horvath went on to place fifth at the NCAA Championships and Jennifer Vail placed sixth in the women’s hammer throw.

From 1993-1999, Lange men's throwers were dominant in the hammer throw as they captured five NCAA titles and finished second three times. First he guided former Trojan and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Balazs Kiss to four consecutive NCAA hammer throw championships from 1993-96 (and a collegiate record). In 1997, despite the departure of Kiss, Lange made it five in a row, coaching Bengt Johansson to the 1997 NCAA hammer title. Johansson was runner up in the hammer in 1998, as was Horvath in 1999.

From 1992-99 at the NCAA Championships, Lange guided Allison Franke to a seventh-place finish in the discus throw in 1992, Leslie Coons to a third-place finish in the hammer throw in 1996, Ashley Selman to a second-place finish in the javelin throw and Vail to a sixth-place finish in the hammer throw in 1999.

He also was instrumental in guiding Nia Ali to a fourth-place finish in the heptathlon at the 2009 NCAA Championships.

Outside of USC, Lange coached hammer thrower Lisa Misipeka to the American Samoa record in the Olympics. He also worked with Julianna Tudja after she left USC and guided her to the Olympics. He was the coach for No. 1-ranked discus thrower Adam Setliff, three-time U.S. discus champion and two-time U.S. Olympian.

A four-year letterman at CSUN (1984-88), Lange earned All-American honors in the hammer in 1988. He was a three-time NCAA Division II championship meet qualifier. While at CSUN, he studied exercise physiology.