The Official Athletics Website of Coe College

Mat Littleton is in his sixth year as the head men’s cross country/track & field coach at Coe College.  Since coming to Coe in 2019, Littleton has nearly doubled the roster size of both the cross country and track & field teams, and has helped the program reach heights it hadn’t seen in over a decade. 
 
In 2022, the men’s cross country team was the most improved team in the entire American River’s Conference (A-R-C) from the year before, making the second largest improvement in the entire history of the current nine-team league.  They followed it up in 2023 as the most improved team in the entire 40-team Midwest Region, making the largest jump in the team standings from the year before. In 2024, the cross country program produced it’s first national qualifier in over a decade (Lewis Kleman). 
 
Coe has had track & field for 128 years, yet six of the school records, and 24 top-10 all-time marks, have been set during the first five years that Littleton has been in charge. In 2024, the program produced it’s first national qualifier in seven years (Chris Baker – hammer throw). The 2025 outdoor season netted another national qualifier and all-American honor as Chris Baker placed inside the top 16. 
 
Prior to coming to Coe, Littleton was the head men’s cross country and track & field coach at Virginia Wesleyan University for 15 years, where he was named 2008 ODAC Men’s XC Coach of the Year and even without a track & field facility for most of his time there, still consistently coached the cross country and track & field teams to finishes in the upper echelon of the conference and South/Southeast Region. 
 
His coaching philosophy of “We build winners in life” has been evident in the fact that his teams at both VWU and Coe have been consistently honored as National Academic Teams. At Coe, the men’s XC team has earned the honor every single year he has been here, and the track & field team earned the honor for the first time in school history this past season. He has consistently produced alumni that have gone on to tremendous successes in their chosen careers, many of whom include medical doctors and PhD’s, lawyers, software engineers, military officers, law enforcement officers, and many other outstanding fields. Over 80% of all athletes who have graduated from his teams at both schools have donated money back to the program after graduation because they had a positive, rewarding experience and believe in the value of the life-lessons they learned.
 
Coach Littleton earned his B.A. degree in English from North Central College in 2001, where he ran for the NCAA Div. III XC Coach of the Century, Al Carius, and UTSFCCCA Hall of Fame coach, Frank Gramarosso.  He was on a national championship team in both cross country and track & field. He later earned his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Quincy University.