Bio

Dave Bell joined the Greenville University Track & Field and Cross Country programs in January 2022 as a part-time distance coach. He continues to serve in that capacity in addition to his primary job as a writer and photographer for the GU Marketing Department.

A native of Eagle Grove, Iowa, Coach Bell had a successful high school track and cross country career as a seven-time state champion. He went on to run both sports at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and served as team captain of each. In track, he was used primarily as a miler, with a personal best of 4:04. He majored in journalism and was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper his senior year.

Following college, he spent four years as a writer and photographer for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at the ministry’s national headquarters in Kansas City. He spent the rest of his career in the newspaper business, working as a reporter, photographer, editor, and publisher.

Coach Bell and his wife, Jane, are the parents of four grown children (three sons and one daughter), all of whom competed in track and other sports at Vandalia High School. Two went on to run track collegiately, a son at the University of Illinois and a daughter at Iowa State University. His wife, Jane, coached track for several years prior to joining the staff at Greenville, where she has taught for the past 13 years as a marketing and management professor. She also serves as the Faculty Athletics Representative for the institution.