Stop by a practice on any given day for the ASU track and field team, and excellence will be all around you.
Conference champions, All-Americans and even a few national champions will be fine-tuning their craft and preparing for their next meet.
But as talented as those Sun Devil athletes are, none have accomplished as much as ASU volunteer coach Dan O’Brien.
O’Brien, now in his fourth year at ASU, was a 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon and former world-record holder in the indoor heptathlon.
The coach mentors three men and two women who compete in the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively. He also was an integral part in the success of former Sun Devil Jacquelyn Johnson, who won seven total individual national titles in the multi-events during her career and made the U.S. Olympic team in 2008.
While O’Brien, 42, hasn’t competed professionally for some time, it’s easy to see he still has a deep and fiery passion for the sport he once dominated. It’s evident in both his eyes and in his voice.
“I love track and field,” O’Brien said. “The thing that I enjoy most about it is the hard work. I like the way track athletes think. It’s very satisfying to run hard and to lift hard and to see the little improvements on a daily basis.”
ASU coach Greg Kraft has known O’Brien for many years and said he was ecstatic when the world-class athlete moved to Arizona and was interested in coaching. Kraft said O’Brien’s dedication and infatuation with the sport is evident in his upbeat approach.
“Dan is married, but his mistress is track and field,” said a chuckling Kraft. “His biggest impact is that he’s a positive person and brings a positive attitude, which is easy to do when you’re as gifted as he was as an athlete.”
O’Brien certainly was gifted.
The Olympic gold medal is well-known, but almost as impressive is the fact that O’Brien won the medal after finishing first in three consecutive decathlons at the World Championships (1991, 1993, 1995), while also adding the 1994 title at the Goodwill Games.
Reflecting on his monumental win at the 1996 Olympics, O’Brien said that his mental strength and toughness propelled him to victory in such a demanding environment. It’s a mindset and attitude that O’Brien has passed onto to the current multi-event athletes for the Sun Devils.
“The thing that stands out most to me is that I was so focused,” O’Brien said. “The thing that I try to tell these guys is that I was the best in the world because what I was doing was the most important thing in my life. If it’s important to you and you want to do well, it has to be very, very important to you.”
ASU sophomore decathlete Jamie Sandys said O’Brien has taught him how to deal with the challenges of facing 10 events over a two-day period, especially if an event doesn’t go according to plan.
“You have to be able to forget what happened,” Sandys said. “You have to move on and get in a different mindset.”
That mindset, O’Brien said, is one that focuses on never giving up and always pushing one’s mind and body to the next level.
“The mindset is that you have to be a grinder — you have to be a fighter and be willing to be out there for those two days and fight for every little inch in the throws and fight to get out front in the running events,” he said. “How do you deal with coming up short and figuring out how to make things work?”
Keia Pinnick, a freshman heptathlete for the Sun Devils, said O’Brien’s pedigree and knowledge of the sport makes it easier to correct her mistakes.
“He’s been through it, so he knows,” Pinnick said. “Everything he says is going to work, and he’s one of the reasons I came here.”
O’Brien’s positive impact hasn’t been limited on the track or on current and former athletes. He also spreads his positive outlook toward helping others deal with problems and challenges.
“As well as coaching athletes, I like to coach people,” O’Brien said. “I like to mentor businessmen, help people lose weight, overcome addictions … I feel I’m a teacher.”
While O’Brien’s world record in the indoor heptathlon was broken earlier this year by Oregon standout Ashton Eaton at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Sun Devils certainly don’t mind having a coach of his caliber around.
And O’Brien feels right at home in the desert. While he would like to become a full-time coach sometime in the next few years, he has found his niche at Sun Angel Stadium.
“I’m not leaving the Valley anytime soon,” he said. “I enjoy it here and think no matter where the future takes me, I’ll always have a home in Arizona.”
Reach the reporter at eric.l.smith@asu.edu
