Former UTSA student-athlete and coach David Hartman rejoined the Roadrunners' coaching staff in August 2014 and now is in his 10th season back in the Alamo City. Hartman, who previously coached with the program from 1996-98, oversees the team's distance program in addition to serving as the head cross country coach.
In Hartman's first year back — the 2014-15 campaign — the UTSA men successfully defended their Conference USA Outdoor Championship and one of his athletes — Mike Medrano (1,500 meters) — ran at the national championship meet.
The 2015-16 season saw Dusan Makevic win both the 3,000m and 5,000m at the C-USA Indoor Championships and he went on to place second in the 10,000m at the league's outdoor meet. That came on the heels of a fourth-place finish at the C-USA Cross Country Championships and a 16th-place effort at the NCAA South Central Regional in the fall. Makevic also set school records in the indoor 3,000m and 5,000m that season.
In 2016-17, Hartman helped coach the men to a runner-up showing at the C-USA Outdoor and a third-place effort indoors. His distance runners combined for 17 points at the two league meets.
The UTSA men were the C-USA Indoor runner-up and they finished third at the outdoor meet in 2018. The distance crew combined for 18 points, including third-place efforts from Luca Chatham in the indoor and outdoor 800m, between the two conference championship events. Chatham also advanced to the NCAA West Region Preliminary Round in the 800m.
In 2019, Hartman helped the men finish third at both league meets and he led Chatham to his first All-America certificate, as the senior earned honorable mention honors with an 18th-place finish in the 800m at the NCAA Outdoor. Chatham broke the 800m school record with a 1:48.38 at the NCAA West Preliminary Round and was the C-USA Outdoor runner-up in the event. He also scored 17.5 points at the C-USA Indoor, winning the mile, finishing third in the 800m and anchoring the distance medley relay to the bronze medal.
In a 2020 season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UTSA men finished second and the women placed fourth at the C-USA Indoor Championships.
Hartman guided Abby Balli to a silver medal in the mile at the 2021 C-USA Indoor Championships, while the women's distance medley relay team finished fourth at the league's indoor meet. Meanwhile, Zack Kovar placed sixth in the 800m and the men's DMR was seventh at the C-USA Indoor.
In 2021-22, Hartman helped mentor Maddie Boswell to a pair of league bronze medals on the track, a fourth-place finish in the 10,000m at the C-USA Outdoor and a top-11 finish at the 2021 C-USA Cross Country Championships. She also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America and C-USA All-Academic Team accolades. Additionally, Balli finished third in the C-USA Indoor mile to collect her second medal in as many years in the race.
Hartman guided the Roadrunners to their best conference cross country finishes in years in 2022. The men finished fifth behind third-team all-conference performances from Colton Stunkard and Jake Smith for their top showing since 2011 and the women placed sixth, their best placing since winning the 2013 C-USA title.
The UTSA men registered runner-up finishes at both the 2022 C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while the women were third indoors and fourth outdoors. Individually, Balli was fifth in the mile and sixth in the 800m at the C-USA Indoor meet, while the men’s distance medley relay placed fifth and the women finished sixth at the conference meet.
Hartman has picked up extensive coaching experience throughout his career in the Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern and Southland conferences.
The Santa Clarita, California, native returned to UTSA after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant at Purdue, where he was in charge of the Boilermakers' distance/cross country programs.
Prior to his time in West Lafayette, Indiana, Hartman helped develop elite middle distance and distance runners for Lamar during the 2012 track & field seasons. He coached seven Southland Conference individual champions while in Beaumont.
Hartman spent three years as the head track & field/cross country coach at Texas-Pan American from 2008-11 after serving as an assistant at Georgia the previous four years.
While with the Bulldogs, he coached 10 SEC individual champions and the women's cross country program qualified for the NCAA Championships all four of his seasons, including a victory at the 2006 NCAA South Regional.
From 1998-2004, Hartman was an assistant at Texas A&M.
The Aggies advanced to four NCAA Championships (three women/one men), including a women's crown at the 2000 NCAA South Central Regional, and he also helped lead the A&M men to the 2001 Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championship. All told, Hartman coached a dozen Big 12 individual gold medalists and a total of 85 all-conference performers in his six campaigns in College Station.
Following a decorated collegiate running career at UTSA, he coached the Roadrunners from 1996-98.
The men's cross country program qualified for the national meet in 1997 in addition to the women capturing the Southland's outdoor track & field crown the following spring. Hartman, who was tabbed the league's 1997 Cross Country Coach of the Year, mentored eight Southland champions and 30 all-conference selections in his first stint in the Alamo City.
The list of coaching accomplishments for Hartman also includes 22 All-Americans and he has been honored by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association four times with regional coaching accolades.
Before embarking on his coaching career, Hartman was a stellar distance/cross country runner at both Villanova (1991-94) and UTSA (1994-96).
He was an All-American in 1992 and part of a Wildcats team that finished fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships that year. The following fall, he helped lead Villanova to the Big East Cross Country Championship.
Hartman went on to be named the 1995 Southland Cross Country Athlete of the Year after winning the league crown in his first campaign as a Roadrunner. All told, he won a total of seven league individual titles in cross country and track & field and still holds the school's indoor 5,000 meters record.
Hartman graduated from UTSA in 1997 with a degree in English. He has one son, Julien, and a daughter, Sascha.