John Dagata Position: Assistant Coach, Operations (throws) Experience: 1st Year at Cal

Cell Phone: (510) 604-8580
Email: jdagata@berkeley.edu

With a wealth of experience that spans from the college ranks to the international stage, John Dagata joined the California track & field staff as director of operations in September 2011. In addition, he oversees the Golden Bear throwing events.

Most recently head of coaching for Welsh Athletics from 2009-11, Dagata also served as head coach of the 2011 Great Britain World University Games track & field team, helping the squad capture three of the country's five total medals in Shenzhen, China. In 2010, he was head coach for the successful Welsh Commonwealth Games squad that competed in New Delhi, India, and advanced all 22 of its team members to the finals, and throws coach for the Great Britain IAAF World Junior Championships team that captured eight medals, including gold by Sophie Hitchon in the hammer.

In response to the success in India, Dagata and the performance team designed what is now the "Progressing Coaching for Performance Plan," which secured additional funding for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.

"I'm very pleased that we've been able to add John to our staff," Cal director of track & field Tony Sandoval said. "He rounds out our staff to give us a more broad-based skill set. Not only has he coached in the United States, but he also brings international experience to our team, as well as administrative and recruiting acumen. We couldn't be more proud to have him become part of our team."

Dagata spent two years as the throws coach at Iowa State from 2008-09 designing a throws center that contributed to the success of Zac Brouillette, a 2009 NCAA qualifier and school-record holder in the hammer (200-2) and weight throw (68-2), and Laishema Hampton, a member of the 2009 USA Junior Pan American team that competed in Trinidad and Tobago.

Prior to Iowa State, Dagata managed throws, jumps and the multi events for six years at UC Santa Barbara. During his tenure with the Gauchos, hammer throwers Amy Haapanen and Eugene Bradley earned All-America honors. In total, Dagata guided Gauchos to eight Big West Conference individual championships, seven school records and several Big West Conference records. His student-athletes recorded 52 all-time top-10 performances in the UCSB record book. Gaucho competitors under Dagata qualified for the NCAA Championships nine times and reached NCAA regional competition on 46 occasions. His efforts helped UCSB win its first-ever Big West team title in 2005. Dagata continues to work with Haapanen, who placed fifth at the USA Championships in the hammer in 2011 (PR 221-9).

Dagata has been an active speaker and participant in coaching conferences and clinics around the world, including the England Athletics Coaching Conferences in 2010 and the IAAF Moscow Regional Development Hammer Throwing Seminar in Hungary in 2003. He also attended the Training Methodology in the Power Speed event at the Canadian Athletics Coaching Center in 2005, the Canadian Technical Analysis in the Throws event in 2006, and the UK Elite Coaching Conference in 2010. Dagata is a USATF Level II & a UKA Level II certified coach in the throwing, jumping and sprinting events.

As a competitor, the native of Lancaster, Calif., was a Big Sky Conference champion at Cal State Northridge in the 35-pound weight throw and an all-conference selection in the hammer, discus and weight throw. He received the school's Outstanding Performance Award in 1999 and Matador Award in 2000. Dagata continued to compete after graduation, ranking among the national leaders in the hammer for several years, and he earned an Olympic "B" standard in the hammer in 2004.

Dagata earned his bachelor's degree with honors in sociology from Cal State Northridge in 2000.