A world-renowned mentor and coach, Harry Marra is in his first season as an assistant coach with the Union College men's and women's track & field programs in 2020-21. He will work with Union's pole vaulters and multi-event athletes.
Marra, who served as Team USA's national decathlon coach from 1990-2000, was a member of the United States’ coaching staff at the IAAF World Championships in Paris (2003), Helsinki (2005) and Osaka (2007) and was an assistant coach for the 1999 Pan American Games and the 1981 and ’82 U.S. Olympic Festivals.
Marra is likely best known as the coach of decathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton. Eaton won two Olympic gold medals and two world championship gold medals during his time as a professional decathlete in addition to three world championships in the heptathlon.
At the collegiate level, he last spent time as an assistant coach at the University of Oregon from 2009-12, where he worked with the Ducks' combined events athletes. While at Oregon, he helped coach Brianne Theisen to a pair of NCAA pentathlon titles and one NCAA heptathlon title, and Thiesen went on to capture the bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics and three silver medals at the world championships.
He also spent 12 years at the head coach at San Francisco State from 1981-93 and four years as the head coach at Springfield College from 1978-81.
Since 2016, Marra has become an international track and field consultant for countries like Indonesia and other professional teams. He is very involved in the sport of track & field and continues to do coaching clinics around the world.
Marra's father, Harry W.L. Marra, was a 1937 graduate of Union College and captained the Dutchmen's baseball team as a senior.
