Jim Lear enters his 25th season with the Duquesne cross country team and 18th campaign with the Dukes' track and field program in 2020-21.
Lear, who spent 19 seasons with Duquesne's cross country team and 12 seasons of involvement with the track and field program working with the distance runners, returned to The Bluff in January 2015 after serving two seasons at the University of Pittsburgh as the assistant coach of distance runners.
Under Lear's tutelege, the Duquesne women's cross country team collected its second A-10 championship in program history during the spring of 2021 and captured its first title since 2014. Lear earned A-10 Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year laurels after leading the Dukes to the league crown and also helped Duquesne to a program-best No. 5 ranking in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings. Brianna Schwartz also earned all-conference honors for the Dukes with a seventh-place finish at the conference championship, the 10th runner to garner all-league accolades since Lear's return to Duquesne for the 2015 season.
In addition, Lear and the women's cross country team also posted consecutive second-place finishes in 2015 and 2016.
After steadily climbing in the Atlantic 10 cross country standings throughout his tenure, the men's cross country team recorded second-place finishes in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2016 and led the team to its first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship in 2005, being named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year as a result.
In 2007, Duquesne boasted the university's first Atlantic 10 cross country champion and NCAA Championship qualifier in Tom Slosky. Mike Stolar, who finished third at the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship, was the program's second NCAA qualifier and in 2012, Jim Spisak became the third different runner to qualify for NCAA's under Lear's watch.
Rico Galassi captured the A-10 title in 2016 after becoming the program's first A-10 Most Outstanding Rookie in 2014.
In track and field, the Duquesne men have shattered 13 school records and taken home 16 medals at the A-10 Championship since Lear's return to The Bluff in 2015. Additionally, Isaac Elliott became the first Duquesne athlete to garner A-10 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer in 2018 for the Dukes.
On the women's side, the Dukes have set 11 outdoor school records and nine indoor program-best marks. Duquesne has collected 24 medals at the conference outdoor championship along with 22 medals at the indoor championship.
Lear first came to Duquesne in 1994 and was promoted to head coach in 1996 after two campaigns as an assistant.
During his tenure at Duquesne, Lear has seen numerous runners be named either Atlantic 10 Performer or Rookie of the Week and has had a number of Atlantic 10 All-Conference performers.
Lear's runners also excel in the classroom as evidenced by the numerous Academic All-Americans the program has had and the Academic All-Conference accolades his student-athletes have collected.
A former track and cross country runner himself in high school and college, Lear began his coaching career in 1975 as the head cross country and track coach at Central Catholic. He coached the Vikings for nine years and also had a one-year simultaneous stint as assistant track coach at Carnegie Mellon University in 1981-82, where he produced his first All-American performer.
Following his tenure at Central Catholic, Lear worked for one year as coach at Mercersburg Academy in Central Pennsylvania before accepting the position of assistant track coach in charge of distance runners at the University of Pittsburgh in 1985.
During nine seasons at Pitt, Lear guided two additional athletes to All-American status and was involved with the only Pitt cross-country team to ever qualify for the NCAA Championships in 1990.
Lear resides in Wilkins Township with his wife Debbie and has three daughters, LeAnne, Kaitlin and Jessica.
