Paul Conlin is in his 29th season as an assistant men’s and women’s track and field coach at UW-Eau Claire. Conlin oversees all throwing events for the Blugolds.

At UW-Eau Claire Conlin has coached numerous national meet qualifiers, 63 NCAA Division III All-Americans in the throws, including 12 National Champions, 13 National Runners-up, 1 USA Olympic Trial qualifier and perhaps even more importantly, 4 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.

NCAA Division III - National Champions

John Schuna        Shot Put             2002 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion

Sam Johnson       Weight Throw      2009 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion

Tyler Genovese   Weight Throw       2012 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion

Roger Steen*        Shot Put             2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion

Roger Steen*        Shot Put             2015 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion

Alex Mess**         Shot Put             2016 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion

David Kornack***   Shot Put               2019 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion

Erica Oawster        Shot Put                2019 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion 

David Kornack****  Shot Put               2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion

Erica Oawster       Discus                   2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion

Catie Fobbe          Shot Put                2023 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion

Yakob Ekoue         Shot Put                2023 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion

*Steen competed at the 2016 USA Olympic Team Trials and placed 20.  Roger threw a qualifying mark of 19.97m (65’ 6-1/2”) to qualify. He competed in the 2020 USA Olympic Trials and placed 9th with a personal best (20.41m, 66' 11.5'').

**In addition, Mess was named USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year indoor and was the Field Athlete Performer of the Meet at the 2016 Outdoor Championships.

*** David Kornack was named USTFCCA Outstanding Performer of the meet at the 2019 Indoor Championships for winning the shot put with the second-best throw of all time in Division III and the furthest throw in 36 years.

           - Blugold athletes currently hold 3 of the top 11 All-Time DIII Indoor Shot Put Throws.

           - Blugold athletes currently hold 2 of the top 10 All-Time DIII Outdoor Men’s Shot Put Throw.

            CoSIDA Academic All-Americans

            John Schuna                2005                2^nd Team

            Sam Johnson               2008                2^nd Team

            Sam Johnson               2009                1^st Team

            Tyler Genovese            2012                1^st Team*

*In addition Tyler was selected as 2012 Indoor Field Scholar Athlete of Year in Division III

His athletes own all the existing UW-Eau Claire school records:

Indoor                         Men                                        Women                            

Shot Put                      19.83m David Kornack            15.22m Erica Oawster

Weight Throw               20.01m Tyler Genovese          18.15m Brittany Frederick

Outdoor

Shot Put                      19.38m David Kornack            15.33m Catie Fobbe

Hammer Throw            60.07m Tyler Genovese           57.19m Teagan Jones

Discus Throw               56.55m Yakob Ekoue               51.19m Erica Oawster

The Blugolds have 27 Top 10 NCAA Championship Finishes since 2007.

Men

Indoor:                   2012 (2^nd), 2013 (3^rd), 2014 (2^nd), 2015 (1^st), 2016 (1^st), 2017 (6^th), 2018 (4^th), 2019 (4^th), 2022 (1^st)

Outdoor:                2012 (6^th), 2013 (2^nd), 2014 (9^th), 2015 (2^nd), 2016 (2^nd), 2017 (5^th), 2019 (1^st), 2021 (2^nd), 2022(1^st)

Women

Indoor:                   2007 (3^rd), 2009 (7^th), 2015 (4^th), 2016 (9^th), 2018 (4^th), 2019 (7^th)

Outdoor:                2009 (4^th), 2012 (10^th), 2015 (2^nd), 2017 (10^th)

In 2012, Conlin was recognized with the Joe Merten Coaching Award for his work as an assistant track and field coach at UW-Eau Claire. 

As an athlete, Conlin was a four-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) conference champion, five-time All-American, and a three-time National Champion, winning both the 1992 Division III indoor and outdoor shot put crowns as a student-athlete at UW-Platteville. He still holds the Pioneer indoor shot put record of 60' 3 3/4" (18.34 m) (10^th All-Time NCAA DIII Indoor) and the Pioneer outdoor shot put record of 62' 7 1/4" (19.08 m). Conlin's throw of 62' 7 1/4" was the WIAC conference outdoor records for over 25 years and currently places him seventh on the All-Time NCAA Division III outdoor performance list.

Other career highlights for Conlin include hitting an Olympic Trials qualifying mark in 1992 and receiving a national ranking of 10th in 1993 by Track and Field News.  That same year, Conlin placed second at the Drake Relays, fourth at the Olympic Festival and 11th at the USA Track and Field Championships.

Coach Conlin was inducted into the UW-Platteville Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and was named to the WIAC All-Time Track and Field Team.  In addition, Conlin was inducted into the USTFCCCA Athlete Hall of Fame in 2021 and was inducted into the WIAC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.

Prior to Eau Claire Conlin had coached one year at La Crosse Logan High School where he helped the Rangers win a conference championship.  At the conference meet the Rangers swept the throws by placing 1, 2, 3 in the discus throw and the shot put as well as qualifying three athletes for Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) State High School Track and Field Championships in the throws.

Conlin currently works for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, where he serves as the Project Development Chief Engineer for the Northwest Transportation Regional Office.  Paul is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin.   Paul and his wife (Wendy) reside in Eau Claire with his son Ryan (18) and his daughter Ashlynn (10).

Updated 7/6/23