ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference announced the 2026 Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honors.
The league’s head coaches submitted nominations and voted on the men’s head coach, women’s head coach, men’s assistant coach and women’s assistant coach awards based on the 2026 indoor season.
Men’s Head Coach of the Year: Dave Paulsen, Northern Iowa
Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year: Jeff Coover, Northern Iowa
Women’s Head Coach of the Year: Angela Martin, Indiana State
Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year: Brandan Bettenhausen, Indiana State
In his 11th year as UNI’s Director of Track and Field/Cross Country, Dave Paulsen earns his fourth MVC Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year honor and second in a row. This season, the Panther men captured four individual conference titles at the MVC Indoor Championships as the program earned its conference record 16th indoor team title with 157.5 total points scored, its most since 2021. Northern Iowa has now won eight MVC team championships under Paulsen, including four men’s indoor team titles (2020-21, 2025-26), three outdoor titles (2018-19, 2021) and the 2016 women’s cross country championship.
In his ninth season coaching Panther jumpers and multi-event athletes, Jeff Coover earns his third MVC Men’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year award and second in a row (2023, 2025). At this year’s MVC Indoor Championships, Coover’s athletes scored an astonishing 70.5 of the Panthers’ 157.5 total points, with three of their four individual titles coming under his coaching. Carter Morton, who ranked fourth in Division I in the heptathlon this season, placed sixth in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships for his second consecutive First Team All-American honor after scoring 38 points at the conference championships with titles in the heptathlon, long jump and high jump, as well as a runner-up finish in the pole vault. Morton was also named the men’s most valuable athlete and most outstanding field athlete of the meet for a second straight year.
Angela Martin, who is in her 16th season in charge of the women’s track and field program and her ninth as the head coach of the men’s program, led the Sycamores to their third-straight conference title and their fourth MVC Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship in the last four years (2022, 2024, 2025, 2026). It was the program's sixth women's indoor title under Martin's leadership (2014, 2015, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026). Indiana State set a program record for points scored at a women’s indoor championship with 152. Under Martin’s tutelage, Rachel Mehringer broke Indiana State and Missouri Valley Conference records in the 60m hurdles at 8.16, while Janiya Bowman was named MVC Indoor Championships MVP after scoring 20 points across three different events as part of the Sycamores’ title run. Bowman also broke the school record in the long jump (6.15m/20-2.25), while Jahnel Bowman was named MVC Most Outstanding Field Athlete for her career-best mark of 12.80m (42-2) in the triple jump. Sycamore student-athletes broke a pair of program records and set 21 program top-10 marks over the course of the 2026 indoor season.
Brandan Bettenhausen, who is in his ninth season coaching the Sycamores’ throwers, coached three all-conference honorees at the 2026 MVC Indoor Championships. The Sycamore throwers scored 45 points between the shot put (21) and weight throw (24), outscoring six entire team totals, and Bettenhausen had each of his five athletes score points at the MVC Indoor Championships. Aliseonna Garnett was responsible for 18 points on her own at the MVC Indoor Championships, with her career-best and top-40 national mark of 16.32m (53-6.5) in the shot put earning first place and her toss of 19.67m (64-6.5) in the weight throw placing second. Niesha Anderson also earned all-conference accolades in the weight throw, placing third with a mark of 19.51m (64-0.25). Anderson also placed in the top five in the shot put with a mark of 14.04m (46-0.75) and was one of three Sycamores in the top five in the event, alongside Garnett and Olivia Marshall (14.01m/45-11.75). Marshall, who also placed sixth in the weight throw (17.98m/59-0), was named the MVC’s Elite 18 Award winner as the highest GPA among finalists at the conference championships.