Bio

John Goldman will serve as interim head coach of the Long Beach City College men's track and field team during the 2013 season.

One of the most successful community college cross country and distance coaches in state history has now joined the staff at Long Beach City College. After ten years at Cerritos College that saw coach John Goldman turn the Falcons into a distance power, he has come back home to his Long Beach roots and has joined the Vikings.

Goldman’s collegiate coaching career spans 17 years in which he has amassed a record that can be matched by few.  Beginning in 1996, when he took the reigns of the Orange Coast College program as their head cross country and distance coach, his athletes have garnered a staggering amount of team and individual championships, all-conference and All-American honors, as well as state records.

Goldman began his coaching career back in 1992 when he was named the head cross country and head distance coach at El Dorado High School.  In four years, Goldman led the Golden Hawks to three cross country league championships, three CIF final appearances, and one Orange County championship.  Seeing his success, Goldman was hired by Orange Coast College in the summer of 1996 to take over its cross country programs and lead its distance runners in track.

In six years at Orange Coast, Coach Goldman established OCC as the preeminent distance power in the state.  In all, his programs won a total of five state cross country championships (4 women’s and 1 men’s) including winning both men’s and women’s titles in the same year (1999), becoming only the second coach in state history to accomplish the feat.  Individual honors also flowed in, as his athletes won six individual OEC cross country titles, and two individual state championships, including a state course record set by Ryan Bousquet in 2001.  His team’s also won a combined seven Orange Empire Conference cross country championships.  For his efforts, Goldman was named the Orange Empire Conference “Coach of the Year” a combined seven times, earned the California Community College Coach of the Year in 1997, 1998 and 2001, and was awarded the California Coaches Associations Coach of the Year award in 1997 and 1998. 

In track and field, his distance runners were every bit as impressive, winning over 30 individual Orange Empire Conference championships and nine individual state championships.  His athletes also broke five state records and included some of the most successful distance runners in state history featuring such athletes as Zoila Gomez and Michelle Icban.

In the spring of 2003, Goldman was brought to Cerritos College to take over their fledgling cross country and distance programs.  His impact was immediate.  In his very first year, his men’s team won the South Coast Conference Championship and both men’s and women’s teams placed ninth in state.  It was the first state appearance for the men in 25 years and the first appearance in the state meet for the women in over 18 years.  Over the next nine years, Goldman’s cross country teams won three more SCC Championships, placed in the top ten a combined 14 times, and produced over 20 all-conference, and six All-Americans runners.  He was named SCC Coach of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008.

In track, he completely redefined Cerritos’ distance program, coaching 15 conference, three Southern California and five individual state champions.  At the same time, his athletes rewrote the Cerritos College distance record books as every school record from 800 through 10,000 meters for both men and women were set during his tenure.  The performances by his women distance runners were instrumental in Cerritos winning three state track and field championships.

In his final season at Cerritos, Goldman’s athletes made history again, as two key athletes, Daniel Herrera and Munir Kahssay, became the first two athletes from the same college to go 1-2 in the Southern California Championships in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.  Herrera, under Goldman’s tutelage, would go on to win both the 5,000 and 10,000 events at the state championship and his distance runners would score a total of 33 points, more than any other college in the distance events that year.  For his efforts, Goldman would be named the SCC Assistant Coach of the Year.

Goldman’s involvement in coaching goes beyond the collegiate environment.  In 2005, he was named the head coach for the United States Track & Field team for the Maccabiah Games in Israel. The team combined for 18 medals, which included six gold, seven silver and five bronze medals, more than any other country. The Maccabiah Games is the third largest sporting event in the world.

In addition to his coaching, Goldman is also one of the founders of International City Racing, where he served as the National Race Director in charge of all operations for the Long Beach International City Marathon and the Rivalry Run Series. These events attract thousands of runners from across the country and around the world. His talents as both coach and event director have been sought out by groups throughout California.  He continues to direct races as well as serve as a consultant to numerous events.

Goldman currently resides in Long Beach with his wife Susan and their three sons, Cole, Ty and Seth.