Brad Herbster was appointed men’s distance coach in July 2023. He returned to the Carolinas where he spent time as both a student-athlete and coach early in his career before successful stints as the distance coach at Texas and Pitt over the last decade.
The men’s cross country team defended its Sun Belt title in 2024 under Herbster’s direction, which earned him his second consecutive SBC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year honor. Six Mountaineers earned All-SBC honors, led by Ethan Lipham, who finished fourth with a 6K time of 24:40.60. In addition to Herbster’s Coach of the Year honor, Chase Burrell earned the SBC Men’s Cross Country Elite Award and Henry Stark was named SBC Men’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year. The Mountaineers went on the finish 14th out of 33 teams at the NCAA Southeast Regional, and were led by Calbert Guest, who finished 44th out of 235 competitors with a 10K time of 31:17.1. The men’s cross country team also saw success in the classroom and earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors.
During the outdoor season, Herbster coached Guest to a new 3,000-meter steeplechase record of 8:42.01, which was set at the Penn Relays. Guest earned SBC Track Athlete of the Week accolades for his performance. With his program record time, Guest qualified for the NCAA East First Round for a second time in his career. Herbster also guided Ethan Turner and Guest to record breaking times in the men’s 5,000 meters and men’s 10,000 meters, respectively, at NC State’s Raleigh Relays. Turner also shattered the men’s 3,000 meter record in the Mountaineers’ outdoor opener in Myrtle Beach, S.C. At the SBC Championships, Lipham defended his men’s 1,500-meter title and garnered gold in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Lipham was of the meet’s top scorers, scoring 20 of the Mountaineers’ 97 points at the conference meet. Herbster also guided Turner to a silver finish in the men’s 10,000 meters and Thomas Wlazlowski to a bronze finish in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. At the USATF U20 Championships, Herbster coached Stark and Memphis Rich in the men’s 3,000 meters, as well as Wlazlowski in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.
In his first season with the Mountaineers, Herbster led the men’s cross country program to its first Sun Belt title since 2019 and was named SBC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. The Black and Gold totaled 28 team points, which was the lowest total at the championship meet since 2013. App State also finished with four of the top six finishes. Herbster coached three-time SBC Runner of the Week selection Oliver Wilson-Cook, Guest, and Dwayne Lillie to First-Team All-SBC honors, Garrett Bivens to Second-Team All-SBC honors, and Jonah Bird to Third-Team honors. The Black and Gold went on to finish tenth overall in the team standings at the NCAA Southeast Regional, marking its best team finish since 2014 and lowest team score in 15 years at the NCAA regional meet. Three Mountaineers also surpassed the 10K program record of 30:25.90 which was set in 2015. He also coached Guest to an appearance at the USATF Cross Country Championships.
During the outdoor season, Herbster coached Bivens to a new 5,000-meter record of 14:18.05, breaking the previous program record of 14:19.97, which was set in 2005. He also guided Ethan Lipham to a 1,500 meter personal best of 3:47.24 that moved him to fifth in the record book. Bivens and Lipham went on to earn First-Team All-SBC honors after their first-place finishes at the SBC Outdoor Championships. Wilson-Cook earned Second-Team All-SBC and Bird earned Third-Team All-SBC honors for their performances in the 10,000 meters at the championship meet.
Herbster led the distance program with the Pitt Panthers since 2018. During the 2022 season, Herbster guided Luke Henseler and Jack Miller to appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships - the first appearances by the Panthers at the championship meet since 1994 - and guided the women’s team to a 10th-place finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. In addition to a successful season on the course and track, 15 Panthers excelled in the classroom and were named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team.
Herbster spent five seasons as the leader of both the men’s and women’s distance programs at the University of Texas, where he led his student-athletes to eight individual Big 12 Conference titles, 12 conference runner-up finishes, seven USTFCCCA All-America performances - including four first-teamers - as well as an individual NCAA championship.
Coaching the distance athletes at Clemson from 2009-13, he guided the Tigers to ACC Championship titles in women’s indoor and outdoor track & field each of the years he was on staff. In his time with the Tigers, the women’s team tallied eight consecutive NCAA top-20 finishes, culminating with a pair of top-five finishes in 2012 and two top-10 finishes in 2013.
From 2002-09, Herbster coached at Charlotte, guiding the 49ers to four consecutive women’s Atlantic-10 championships and three men’s A-10 team championships. Herbster spent four years as a high school coach at North Mecklenburg High School and Hopewell High School, both in North Carolina, before breaking through at the collegiate level.
Herbster earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina in 1991 and competed for the cross country and track & field team. As a student-athlete, he was a three-time all-conference honoree and he remains ranked fifth in the Gamecocks’ all-time list for the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:08.57.
