Kevin Paterson
- M.S., B.S., Management, Calumet College of St. Joseph
Kevin Paterson is the head coach for men’s and women’s cross country and track and field at Lenoir-Rhyne University since 2019. Before joining the Bears, he was head coach at Benedictine University in Illinois, where he was named U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Midwest Regional Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2017 and developed the programs into national contenders.
Under his leadership, Paterson led Jacob Wadsworth to indoor all-American honors, and seven athletes earned all-American status in outdoor season in 2021. In the conference meet, he led the women’s cross country to a third-place finish and the men to a fourth-place spot in 2019. In addition, women’s indoor track and field finished second at the conference meet. The men placed third in Paterson’s first season. Each stands as the best finish at the conference championship in program history.
At LR, Paterson coached Janet Kwambai and Caroline Hillard to first team all-conference honors in cross country, while Kylie Dahlberg earned second team all-league accolades. In addition, he coached a program-record eight athletes to all-American status in track and field in the 2020-21 season.
At Benedictine, Paterson earned five Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year awards and won eight NACC championships, including four indoor, three outdoor and one cross country. In total, he coached four NCAA national champions as well as four NCAA national runners up, 22 all-Americans, 46 all-region performers and 53 NCAA national qualifiers. Additionally, he led 258 runners to all-conference honors, 93 NACC individual conference champs and 72 NACC scholar-athletes. During his tenure, Paterson also developed the Benedictine relays into one of the largest collegiate track and field invitationals in the Midwest.
At Calumet, Paterson competed as a track and field student-athlete and set eight program records while being a two-time team captain.