Dawn Boxley begins her 21st season at the University of Arizona and her seventh as the Director of Operations for the men's and women's track and field programs. After 12 years of experience as an assistant coach with the men's and women's sprints and hurdles, Boxley's role as Director of Operations puts her in charge of many of the administrative and day-to-day activities involved in keeping things running smoothly for one of the premiere Division I track and field programs in the nation.
In 1998, Boxley started coaching the UA men’s and women's short (100 and 200 meters) sprints. She has coached the female student-athletes with the four-fastest times on UA's 100-meter top-10 list.
In 2005, she coached Nikki Martin to her first appearance at the NCAA Regional and Nationals Championships. In 2003, Boxley's group was paced by senior Senaybou Ndyiae, who ran the then-second-fastest 100 meters in school history (11.57) and was an NCAA competitor in both the 60-meter dash indoors and the 100 meters outdoors. Ndyiae, along with Taylor, was also a part of the 4x100-meter relay team that made a trip to the NCAA Championships.
During the 2008 season, Boxley coached the men's 4x100-meter relay team to the NCAA Championships for the second-straight season, despite the squad losing two members from the previous season's All-America team. The 2008 team of Marcus Tyus, Bobby McCoy, Kyle Alston and Xuehan Xiong won the NCAA West Regional Championship title in the event and posted the fastest time in the conference with a 39.52. Boxley was also involved in helping Tyus run to his personal best of 10.50 in the 100 meters. Tyus went on to take all-conference honors, in addition to qualifying for the NCAA West Regional Championships.
Boxley was instrumental in Brianna Glenn's success, a multiple NCAA event champion while at Arizona. Glenn won a title in the 200 meters at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships and placed third in the 100 meters at the same meet. Glenn also racked up numerous All-America honors, both indoors and outdoors, and she became the school-record holder in the 100 meters (11.33), 200 meters (22.91), indoor 60 meters (7.25) and indoor 200 meters (23.29).
Her post-collegiate coaching includes former Pac-10 Champion Akin Akinremi. Boxley also coached Danny Andrews, a former University of Miami student-athlete who is a leg amputee, at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Andrews was the gold medalist in the 400 meters, setting a new world record. He was also a member of the gold medal winning 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams.
Boxley was a sprinter for the Wildcats under now head coach Fred Harvey. She earned her degree from Arizona in 1996. She is married to former WichitaState pole vaulter Eric Boxley and they have two daughters: Ava Grace, 11 and Kyla Nicole, 8.
