Western New England University

Jon Harris will start his fourth season as head coach of the Western New England men's and women's cross country teams in the fall of 2024 after completing 16 seasons as an assistant coach for the programs. Harris will also begin as the Western New England men's and women's outdoor track and field coach beginning in 2025, beginning the inaugural season for the Golden Bears.

Harris led Western New England men's cross country to four top-five finishes as a team in 2023 while doing the same on the women's side. Both Western New England men's and women's cross country finished first at the Founding Tree Invitational in 2023 while taking second place as a team at the Steven A. Warde Invitational. Under the guidance of Harris, the Golden Bears racked up multiple career best times on the course. 

Coach Harris joined the Western New England cross-country program in the Fall of 1999 for his first year as a student-athlete on the WNE squad. He represented the Golden Bears at the NCAA Regional Championship in all four of his competitive seasons and was a three-year captain of the team. During his senior year, the men's team won its first ever GNAC conference championship. Harris graduated from the University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.

Following his time as a student-athlete, Harris joined coach Brian Walsh's staff as an assistant for the men's and women's cross-country teams and served in that role for 18 years. During that time, he helped the Golden Bears secure multiple GNAC conference championships for both the men and women.  While serving as an assistant at WNE, he also returned to his hometown of Monson, where he has been the head coach of the high school boy's track and field program since 2009, as well as the girl's team since 2019. Harris' Monson High teams have been very competitive within Western Massachusetts and at the state level. As one of the smallest schools in the area, the Monson High Mustangs were able to secure multiple league championships as well as a boy's Western Massachusetts Team Championship in 2017. Harris' high school program has also produced multiple district and state individual champions and sent athletes off to continue their track and field careers at all levels of NCAA competition.

Harris moved into the role of head coach of the Western New England University men's and women's cross-country teams in 2021. In his first four seasons at the helm, both teams have shown steady improvement. The Golden Bears have taken home seven invitational team victories in that time. Harris has led WNE's men's and women's cross-country teams to first place finishes at the Founding Tree, Steven A. Warde, and Blazer Invitationals. The 2024 season also saw Matt Provost, who Harris coached in Monson and throughout his WNE career, set the school record running 26:31 over the 8,000 meter cross country distance. 

In the fall of 2024, Harris, expanded his responsibilities to serve as Director of Cross-Country and Track and Field. Additionally, he assumed the role of Head Coach for the Track and Field programs.