Dan Roark was appointed head coach of the Keene State cross country and track and field programs in February of 2022. Roark came to KSC from Wentworth Institute of Technology, an NCAA Division III school in Boston, where he served as head coach of the Leopards beginning in 2015. He led Wentworth, a member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference, to league titles in cross country in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and mentored Dan McSolla (2016) and Alex Robbins (2017) to appearances in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships.
McSolla also qualified for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and and Field Championships in the mile in 2017 and 2019, where he earned All-America honors in 2017 - just the fifth All-America honoree in school history.
Roark has immediately helped move the Owls program forward and back into a regional contender, helping guide the women's cross country program to back-to-back Little East Conference championships in 2022 and 2023, with the 2022 season seeing a top 10 finish in the East region. Jake Pearl (2022) and Maggie St. John (2023) have qualified for the NCAA cross country championships individually under his guidance.
Multiple school records have been established in Roark's time at KSC, including Shannon Parks in the indoor track and field weight throw, indoor and outdoor shot put, and the hammer (outdoor). Kyle Maruca set a new school mark in the discus (outdoor), Carlie Cronin in the pole vault (outdoor), and Tommy Ahlers in the 60 meter run (indoor). He coached Little East Conference indoor track and field Rookie of the Year Griffin Urnezis (2024 indoor), and has coached Urnezis (3,000 meters; 2023-2024 indoor), Maruca (shot put; 2023-2024 indoor / discus; 2023 outdoor), Savannah Soleau (shot put; 2023-2024 indoor), Grace Furlong (10,000 meters; 2024 outdoor, 2023 outdoor), and Parks (shot put; 2023 indoor) to LEC individual titles.
Roark was an NCAA Division I runner at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., before transferring to St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia to conclude his collegiate career. He earned an undergraduate degree in economics and an MBA from St. Joseph's, where he was a three time qualifier for the IC4A in both indoor and outdoor track and field.
