As a young athlete, Dave Wollman dreamed of the Olympics. But it was an era when many chased the podium with shortcuts he refused to take. “The performance levels the others were achieving were beyond my natural talent,” he has said. So when he turned to coaching, he made himself a promise: he would get his athletes to the Games the right way — through technique, discipline, and relentless work.

He kept it. As a graduate assistant at Purdue, Wollman discovered biomechanics and kinesiology and built a coaching philosophy around the science of human movement — technical mastery instead of brute strength. He carried that approach to Stanford, where he coached national champions and Olympians, and at just 30 years old he was hired to lead SMU — the first head-coaching job he ever interviewed for.

Twenty-eight years on the Hilltop

From a nearly empty roster in 1988, Wollman built all six SMU programs — men’s and women’s indoor & outdoor track and cross country — into national contenders. The women’s team broke through with a third-place NCAA finish; the men returned to the podium four years later. From 1995 to 2004, SMU became one of only two Division-I programs in the country to win top-four NCAA team trophies in all four track & field events.

Along the way he coached 20 Olympians representing 12 countries, 34 NCAA individual champions, roughly 200 All-Americans, and seven collegiate-record holders — including Olympic medalists in the throws. For it, both the American and European coaching associations named him “Master Coach,” their highest honor. He is one of only three U.S. coaches ever to hold both. In 2024, SMU inducted him into its Athletics Hall of Fame.

Reinventing the role

When SMU cut the men’s program in 2004, Wollman reinvented himself. As assistant athletic director for academics, he created the Academic Development of Student-Athletes (ADSA) — the academic-support program he considers his lasting legacy at SMU, and one that has shaped student-athletes across every sport on campus.

Through it all, he credits his wife, Shelley — “the heart of the program” — and a deep faith that, in his words, guided him “to a place He wanted me to serve.”

Second Eye Consulting — coaching the world

Wollman never really retired. Through Second Eye Consulting, he now coaches throwers and coaches all over the world by video analysis — many of them the children of the athletes he once coached at SMU. Film a throw, send it in, and you get back the eye that produced 20 Olympians, plus the recruiting guidance and connections that turn talented throwers into scholarship athletes.

“I’m a long way from actual retirement,” he says. “I now consult with athletes and coaches of all levels across the world.” The classroom changed. The standard didn’t.