Upcoming Event: Track & Field at Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on December 4, 2026
Track & Field
at Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener
Paul Thornton - Track & Field
Paul Thornton
- Title:
- Assistant Coach - Multis
- Email:
- pwthornton@ku.edu
- Phone:
- 864-3486
Paul Thornton is in his ninth season with the Kansas track & field program during the 2026-27 seasons after being hired in September of 2018. Thornton serves as an assistant coach for the Jayhawk track & field squads where he primarily works with the combined events athletes.
In his first eight seasons, Thornton has led the Jayhawks to success in the horizontal jumps and combined events with 14 All American awards achieved, four Big 12 individual Conference Champions and one Big 12 Freshman of the Year.Â
COACHING CAREER
While at Kansas, Thornton has helped both the men’s and women’s teams succeed, having nine different athletes score at Big 12 Championship. Cameryn Thomas and Tori Eglund have scored in the pentathlon under Thornton while Eglund, Teri Huslig and Lauren Heck have scored in the heptathlon at Big 12 Championships. For the men, Clay Eckert, Alex Jung and Tayton Klein have scored at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, with Klein winning the title. Klein and Jung have also scored in the decathlon, along with Conor Dunback and John Swabik, with Swabik and Jung both winning titles.
Thornton came to Kansas after 10 years at Minnesota coaching the men’s sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and multi-event athletes, the last two of which he held the title of associate head coach. In his decade with the Gophers, Thornton coached student-athletes to a total of 56 All-America honors, 16 individual Big Ten titles, an NCAA champion in the indoor heptathlon, as well as a recipient of the Big 10 Medal of Honor, the highest award the conference bestows.
While with the Gophers, Thornton helped the team to three-straight Big Ten indoor titles from 2009-11, as well as back-to-back Big Ten outdoor titles in 2009 and 2010. During his second season in Minneapolis, Thornton was named the Midwest Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for the indoor season.
A native of Northfield, Minnesota, Thornton took the job with the Gophers track & field program after spending five years as the head men’s and women’s track & field coach at NCAA Division III powerhouse Washington University in St. Louis. While at the helm of the Bears’ program, he led the women’s team to a third-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships which helped earn him USTFCCCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors.
Washington won 14 University Athletic Association (UAA) team titles, with the women’s team capturing UAA titles in nine of the 10 total championships under Thornton’s tutelage. The Bears swept the men’s and women’s UAA team titles three years in a row from 2005-07.
NOTABLE ATHLETES
In 2026, Thornton led the Jayhawks to a sweep of the multi events at the Big 12 Championships, with Tayton Klein winning the school’s first ever Big 12 heptathlon title and John Swabik winning the Big 12 decathlon title. The duo joined Alex Jung, who Thornton guided to the 2024 Big 12 decathlon title and Cordell Tinch who won the 110 meter hurdles at the 2019 Big 12 Outdoor Championship as individual champions, with Tinch also being named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Combined, Swabik, Klein and Jung hold all 10 of the top heptathlon performances in school history and 10 of the top 11 decathlon performances.Â
Thornton guided Jung to an outstanding career at Kansas as one of the most dominant multi athletes in the school’s history. At the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Jung scored 7,746 points, placing seventh overall and broke his own school record. Jung owns five of the school’s top-10 decathlon performances, including the second, third and fourth best marks, and five of the school’s top-10 heptathlon performances with a personal best 5,797 points.
Another one of Thornton’s pupils, Klein also found success in the long jump and multi events under Thornton’s guidance. In 2026, Klein won the school’s first ever Big 12 heptathlon title with a new school record 5,923 points. Earlier in the season, he also finished second at the DeLoss Dodds Invitation with 5,861 points and is now third all time for the Jayhawks in the event. Klein finished the season with Second-Team All American honors in the heptathlon after qualifying for his first NCAA Indoor Championship.
Under Thornton, Klein won the Big 12 Heptathlon title, earned Second-Team All American honors in the heptathlon, earned two Second-Team All American honors in the decathlon, earned an Honorable-Mention All American award in the long jump and received an Honorable-Mention All American honor in the decathlon. Klein owns four of the top-10 heptathlon marks in school history, including the record and third best performance, and three of the top-10 decathlon marks.
After joining the Jayhawks in 2026, Swabik ascended to new heights with Thornton. In his lone season with Kansas, Swabik won the Big 12 decathlon championship while breaking the school record with a personal best 7,819 points. He earned Second-Team All American honors in both the heptathlon and decathlon and recorded the second best heptathlon mark in school history with 5,864 points. Swabik then competed at the USATF Outdoor Championships and achieved fifth overall, scoring 7,606 points. Thornton is still coaching Swabik as he prepares to compete professionally.
In his first year at KU, Thornton helped the horizontal jumps group take a big leap, including helping Treyvon Ferguson to a 10th place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump, where the freshman jumped 16.18m (53-01 ft.) to earn second team All-American honors. From there, Ferguson went on to win the triple jump at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships by leaping 16.13m (52-11 ft.) under Thornton’s guidance.
While at Minnesota, Thornton coached 2015 NCAA heptathlon champion, two-time First Team All-American and Minnesota school heptathlon record holder Luca Wieland. In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Weiland also earned the Big 12 Medal of Honor, the conference's most prestigious award. Thornton was also heavily involved in developing the most decorated All American in Minnesota program history, Harun Abda, who earned 13 All American accolades as well as six Big Ten titles while also breaking six school records.
PERSONAL
Before his coaching career began, Thornton was a three-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association honoree as a member of the track & field team at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He helped the Oles’ 4×400-meter relay team to an NCAA Championships appearance in 1993 and was voted the team’s most valuable runner that season. Thornton earned four varsity letters in both cross country and track & field at St. Olaf while being coached by his father, Bill, a University of Kansas track and field alum.
Thornton earned a bachelor’s degree in sports science in 1993 from St. Olaf and a master’s degree in exercise physiology and biomechanics from Illinois State in 1995. He and his wife, Dr. Julie, have been married for 32 years. The couple has two children, Marissa (28) and Zac (24). Marissa, an interior designer, is married to Jackson Cloud, a commercial airline pilot. In 2023, Zac was a fifth-round pick of the New York Mets organization. The southpaw climbed the ranks of the minor leagues and made his MLB debut on May 20th, 2026 against the Nationals as a starter for the Mets. Zac posted a 3.42 ERA in 84.1 innings across 15 starts for the Mets during his first season as a big leaguer.Â
Â
In his first eight seasons, Thornton has led the Jayhawks to success in the horizontal jumps and combined events with 14 All American awards achieved, four Big 12 individual Conference Champions and one Big 12 Freshman of the Year.Â
COACHING CAREER
While at Kansas, Thornton has helped both the men’s and women’s teams succeed, having nine different athletes score at Big 12 Championship. Cameryn Thomas and Tori Eglund have scored in the pentathlon under Thornton while Eglund, Teri Huslig and Lauren Heck have scored in the heptathlon at Big 12 Championships. For the men, Clay Eckert, Alex Jung and Tayton Klein have scored at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, with Klein winning the title. Klein and Jung have also scored in the decathlon, along with Conor Dunback and John Swabik, with Swabik and Jung both winning titles.
Thornton came to Kansas after 10 years at Minnesota coaching the men’s sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and multi-event athletes, the last two of which he held the title of associate head coach. In his decade with the Gophers, Thornton coached student-athletes to a total of 56 All-America honors, 16 individual Big Ten titles, an NCAA champion in the indoor heptathlon, as well as a recipient of the Big 10 Medal of Honor, the highest award the conference bestows.
While with the Gophers, Thornton helped the team to three-straight Big Ten indoor titles from 2009-11, as well as back-to-back Big Ten outdoor titles in 2009 and 2010. During his second season in Minneapolis, Thornton was named the Midwest Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for the indoor season.
A native of Northfield, Minnesota, Thornton took the job with the Gophers track & field program after spending five years as the head men’s and women’s track & field coach at NCAA Division III powerhouse Washington University in St. Louis. While at the helm of the Bears’ program, he led the women’s team to a third-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships which helped earn him USTFCCCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors.
Washington won 14 University Athletic Association (UAA) team titles, with the women’s team capturing UAA titles in nine of the 10 total championships under Thornton’s tutelage. The Bears swept the men’s and women’s UAA team titles three years in a row from 2005-07.
NOTABLE ATHLETES
In 2026, Thornton led the Jayhawks to a sweep of the multi events at the Big 12 Championships, with Tayton Klein winning the school’s first ever Big 12 heptathlon title and John Swabik winning the Big 12 decathlon title. The duo joined Alex Jung, who Thornton guided to the 2024 Big 12 decathlon title and Cordell Tinch who won the 110 meter hurdles at the 2019 Big 12 Outdoor Championship as individual champions, with Tinch also being named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Combined, Swabik, Klein and Jung hold all 10 of the top heptathlon performances in school history and 10 of the top 11 decathlon performances.Â
Thornton guided Jung to an outstanding career at Kansas as one of the most dominant multi athletes in the school’s history. At the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Jung scored 7,746 points, placing seventh overall and broke his own school record. Jung owns five of the school’s top-10 decathlon performances, including the second, third and fourth best marks, and five of the school’s top-10 heptathlon performances with a personal best 5,797 points.
Another one of Thornton’s pupils, Klein also found success in the long jump and multi events under Thornton’s guidance. In 2026, Klein won the school’s first ever Big 12 heptathlon title with a new school record 5,923 points. Earlier in the season, he also finished second at the DeLoss Dodds Invitation with 5,861 points and is now third all time for the Jayhawks in the event. Klein finished the season with Second-Team All American honors in the heptathlon after qualifying for his first NCAA Indoor Championship.
Under Thornton, Klein won the Big 12 Heptathlon title, earned Second-Team All American honors in the heptathlon, earned two Second-Team All American honors in the decathlon, earned an Honorable-Mention All American award in the long jump and received an Honorable-Mention All American honor in the decathlon. Klein owns four of the top-10 heptathlon marks in school history, including the record and third best performance, and three of the top-10 decathlon marks.
After joining the Jayhawks in 2026, Swabik ascended to new heights with Thornton. In his lone season with Kansas, Swabik won the Big 12 decathlon championship while breaking the school record with a personal best 7,819 points. He earned Second-Team All American honors in both the heptathlon and decathlon and recorded the second best heptathlon mark in school history with 5,864 points. Swabik then competed at the USATF Outdoor Championships and achieved fifth overall, scoring 7,606 points. Thornton is still coaching Swabik as he prepares to compete professionally.
In his first year at KU, Thornton helped the horizontal jumps group take a big leap, including helping Treyvon Ferguson to a 10th place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump, where the freshman jumped 16.18m (53-01 ft.) to earn second team All-American honors. From there, Ferguson went on to win the triple jump at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships by leaping 16.13m (52-11 ft.) under Thornton’s guidance.
While at Minnesota, Thornton coached 2015 NCAA heptathlon champion, two-time First Team All-American and Minnesota school heptathlon record holder Luca Wieland. In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Weiland also earned the Big 12 Medal of Honor, the conference's most prestigious award. Thornton was also heavily involved in developing the most decorated All American in Minnesota program history, Harun Abda, who earned 13 All American accolades as well as six Big Ten titles while also breaking six school records.
PERSONAL
Before his coaching career began, Thornton was a three-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association honoree as a member of the track & field team at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He helped the Oles’ 4×400-meter relay team to an NCAA Championships appearance in 1993 and was voted the team’s most valuable runner that season. Thornton earned four varsity letters in both cross country and track & field at St. Olaf while being coached by his father, Bill, a University of Kansas track and field alum.
Thornton earned a bachelor’s degree in sports science in 1993 from St. Olaf and a master’s degree in exercise physiology and biomechanics from Illinois State in 1995. He and his wife, Dr. Julie, have been married for 32 years. The couple has two children, Marissa (28) and Zac (24). Marissa, an interior designer, is married to Jackson Cloud, a commercial airline pilot. In 2023, Zac was a fifth-round pick of the New York Mets organization. The southpaw climbed the ranks of the minor leagues and made his MLB debut on May 20th, 2026 against the Nationals as a starter for the Mets. Zac posted a 3.42 ERA in 84.1 innings across 15 starts for the Mets during his first season as a big leaguer.Â
Â
| THE THORNTON FILE |
|---|
| Alma Mater: St. Olaf, 1993; Illinois State, 1995 |
| Experience: Ninth season at Kansas |
| Wife: Julie, Ed.D. |
| Children: Marissa (28), Zac (24) |
| COACHING EXPERIENCE |
|---|
| 2018-Current, Kansas (Men's and Women's Multi-Events) |
| 2009-18, Minnesota (Men's Associate Head Coach - Sprinters, Hurdlers, Jumpers, Multis) |
| 2004-08, Washington University in St. Louis (Men's and Women's Head Track & Field Coach) |
| 2001-03, St. Mary's (Minn.) (Men's and Women's Head Track & Field Coach) |
| 1993-2000, Illinois State (Associate Head Coach) |
Saturday, March 14
Saturday, March 14
Wednesday, April 16
Saturday, June 08
