The University of Virginia's College at Wise Athletics

In 2015, Donald Leech will enter his sixth season as the head men's and women's cross country coach.  Leech, a lifetime runner assisted the programs in 2009 before accepting the head coaching position in the summer of 2010. 

Beginning in his first season Leech developed improvements in training methods along with the increased conditioning required to compete at the Mid-South level. As a result many of the runners achieved personal best times, and both teams competed well against challenging Mid-South Conference competition.  In 2012, the coach had the team participate in numerous NCAA DII competitions to prepare the team for the transition out of the NAIA. In 2013 both teams ran competitively in their first (provisional) year of competition in the NCAA Division II Mountain East Conference, with several runners in both the men’s and women’s teams finishing in the top ten in some races.

Throughout his life Leech participated in various running clubs and has raced every distance from 5K to the marathon (including qualifying for the prestigious Boston Marathon), all of which furthered his knowledge of cross country training.  On campus, he serves as an associate professor of history where he teaches Medieval and Early Modern European History.  Leech earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2007.