Bio

The 2024-2025 year is Quinn White’s 15th season at the helm of the women’s cross country program, his sixth as head coach of the men’s cross country program and his 15th on staff with the track and field team.

White, who has been named the Crossroads League Coach of the Year for 11 consecutive seasons between 2013 and 2023, as well as the NAIA National Coach of the Year in 2023, ranks first in Taylor history with an all-time record of 1,430-217 as the head coach of the women’s cross country program and is TU’s all-time winning percentage leader with a career clip of .868 entering the 2024 campaign. During White’s tenure, the Trojans have posted the 15-fastest team times in program history.

In his 14 prior seasons leading the Taylor women’s cross country program, White has helped the Trojans to a record-setting 11-straight Crossroads League Championships and 11 top-20 finishes at the NAIA National Championships, including seven consecutive top-six showings from 2017-2023. Beginning with the 2013 season, the program has also racked up 66 All-Crossroads League awards and 20 NAIA All-American honors.

In 2023, White coached the Taylor women to an 11th-straight Crossroads League Championship and a fifth-place showing at NAIA Nationals. The team posted a 117-8 record under his watch, as it won two regular season meets, the IWU Invitational and the Ray Bullock Invite. The Trojans produced four All-Crossroads League runners, two NAIA All-Americans and nine NAIA Scholar-Athletes as White earned his 11th consecutive Crossroads League Coach of the Year honors in addition to being named the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.

White led the TU women to the program’s first NAIA National Championship in 2022, posting a perfect record of 133-0 throughout an unforgettable season. At the NAIA National Championships, White’s seven-member team pulled off the second-most dominant win in NAIA National Championship history, as the Trojans recorded a program-best time of 88:13, scoring 50 points and winning by a margin of 127 points over the second-place team. Furthermore, all seven of the TU runners finished within the top-40 athletes, earning seven All-American awards for the season in program history. Under White’s coaching Abbey Brennan broke the five-kilometer program record and seven runners finished with times in the top-12 of program history. As a team they ran the four fastest times in school history shattering the previous school record by over two minutes. White was named the USTFCCCA National Women’s Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year, while also collecting the USTFCCCA Great Lakes and Crossroads League Coach-of-the-Year awards after the most historic season in program history. While the team smashed records on the course, they also excelled in the classroom and were named the USTFCCCA National Scholar Team of the Year, with seven NAIA Women’s Cross Country All-Academic honors and nine NAIA Scholar Athlete awards.

In 2021, White led the Taylor women’s cross country team to a fourth-placed finish at the NAIA National Championships, following its ninth-straight Crossroads League championship. Being named Crossroads League Coach of the Year for the ninth-consecutive year, White coached four athletes to an All-Crossroads League selection and three to All-American status.

The 2020 season was one to remember, as Taylor received its highest ranking in program history claiming the No. 1 spot in four-consecutive polls. The Trojans posted an impressive record of 97-4 and tied the program’s-best finish at the NAIA National Championships, claiming third place as a team. At nationals, White coached two runners to NAIA All-American status. Under White’s coaching, senior Sarah Harden broke her own five-kilometer school record. The Trojan’s won their eighth-straight Crossroads League Championship and claimed five spots on the All-Crossroads League Team. White was also named the Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.

TU continued the tradition of a successful campaign under White in 2019. The Purple and Gold claimed the seventh-straight Crossroads League Championship, with four athletes earning All-CL honors. The squad ended with a season record of 140-13. At the NAIA National meet, the Trojans finished in the top-20 for the seventh year in a row. TU claimed sixth place at nationals and had two runners earn All-American honors.

2018 saw the Trojans claim an undefeated regular season record and finish third at the NAIA National Championships for the best finish in program history. At the national meet they posted a program-record time of 90:29. Throughout the season, they also earned TU’s second, third, fifth and sixth-fastest team times. Under White’s coaching, sophomore Sarah Harden broke the twelve-year-old five-kilometer school record. White was named Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year and the women raced to a 91-2 overall record. The team posted the highest rating in program history at No. 2 in the nation and won its sixth-straight Crossroads League Championship. In the classroom the Trojans led the nation with 10 NAIA Scholar-Athletes.

White also led the Trojans to a historic finish in the 2017 season. Boasting an astounding 76-2 record, the team climbed to a fifth-straight CL Championship victory and a finish of fifth at the NAIA National Championships with a then-program record time of 92:31. White’s team gathered school records, as it posted the program’s first, third, fifth and ninth-fastest team times in its history. The 2017 squad was also excellent in the classroom as it led the NAIA with 10 Scholar-Athletes.

TU added another dominant season under White in 2016, claiming a fourth-straight Crossroads League Championship and finishing inside the top-20 at the NAIA National Championships for a fourth-straight year. The Trojans posted four of the program’s 10 best team times and registered a trio of top-15 individual times. In addition to claiming a fourth-straight CL Coach-of-the-Year award, White also earned his 500th coaching victory with the Purple and Gold during a third-place finish at the Louisville Classic on October 1.

The 2015 campaign saw the Trojans post a 91-3 team clip, while winning four-of-six regular season races and storming to the program’s third-straight Crossroads League Championship. Taylor climbed to as high as No. 4 in the nation to match its highest NAIA Top-25 ranking and placed three individuals inside the top-100 finishers at the NAIA National Championships for the third-straight year, while ending 11th as a team. The squad was equally as impressive off the course, leading the Crossroads League and posting the 15th-highest grade-point average of any team in any sport with a collective mark of 3.77.

White guided Taylor to a regular season clip of 97-4 in 2014, en route to a 10th-place finish at NAIA Nationals and a second-straight Crossroads League Championship. The Trojans claimed three meet victories during the regular season. TU also set a program record with four individual finishers inside the top-100 at NAIA Nationals.

The 2013 season saw White guide TU to a regular season mark of 96-4, a Crossroads League Championship and a 10th-place showing at NAIA Nationals. Taylor climbed to a No. 4 ranking and became the first Taylor team to place two runners inside the top-50 and three inside the top-100 at NAIA Nationals.

In addition to his role as head coach of the women’s cross country team, White has served as an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s track and field program since 2011 and filled the role of interim head coach for the Trojans in 2019 and 2014. White was honored as the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Women’s Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2023 for the outdoor season, and in 2019 and 2023 for the indoor season.

During his time specializing with the distance and javelin events over the last 13 seasons, White’s student-athletes have piled up 31 indoor school-record performances, 16 Crossroads League Individual Championships, 141 NAIA Indoor National Qualifiers and 46 NAIA Indoor All-Americans.

The success has carried over into the outdoor seasons as well, where White has helped his student-athletes to 24 school-record performances, 101 NAIA Outdoor National Qualifiers, 125 All-Crossroads League selections, 34 Crossroads League Individual Championships and 37 NAIA All-Americans.

White coached high school cross country and track for 14 years prior to taking over the TU program. During his time as a high school coach, White guided his teams to four conference championships, six district titles, and had 22 All-State athletes earn a total of 47 All-State honors.

An accomplished runner in his own right, White ran four seasons of cross country and track at Taylor, earning five varsity letters with the Trojans.

After graduating from TU, White went on to earn a master’s degree in language, literature and reading in 1996 from Ohio State University and a Ph. D. in language, literacy and culture in 2005 from OSU.

White returned to Taylor’s Upland campus as a professor of education in the fall of 2006 and was the recipient of the Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award, as well as the Excellent Educator Award in 2008.

White is actively involved in his Team Victory ministry, having taken trips to the Dominican Republic in 2009 and 2010 during which his teams delivered shoes, shirts, and Bibles to impoverished youth while sharing the Gospel through running. White has also led Team Victory trips to Guatemala (2011), Nicaragua (2013) and Belize (2016).

White lives in Upland with his wife, Julie ('89) and continues to serve as a professor within TU’s Education Department. The couple has three children, Haley ('16), Keanan ('20) and Connor (’22).