Southwest Minnesota State University Women's Track & Field

Josh Kuusisto is in his third season as an assistant coach for the SMSU track & field program in 2025-26 and will oversee the throwers.   Prior to SMSU, Kuusisto spent four seasons as the director of track & field/cross country and head track & field coach at the University of Minnesota Morris. In 2025, senior Nadia Sanford earned All-NSIC indoors honors placing second in the shot put.   Kuusisto was named the head coach of the UMM track & field programs in 2019 after serving as an assistant coach with the program for four seasons (2015-19). During his tenure as an assistant and head coach at UMM, Kuusisto coached more than 200 all-conference honorees and 58 individual champions in 15 different events. In 2021, he coached Jessica Bliese, who earned Division III All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in the hammer throw.   A three-time Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Coach of the Year, Kuusisto led UMM to a pair of UMAC Outdoor Women's team titles and two UMAC Indoor Women's team championships in both 2021 and 2022. He was also an assistant for a pair of UMAC Outdoor Women's championship teams in 2016 and 2019.   Prior to UMM, Kuusisto was an assistant coach at Greenville University for two seasons (2014-15).   Kuusisto is a 2014 graduate of Greenville University with a degree in parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies. As a student-athlete, he was a two-time NCAA All-American in the hammer and weight throw in 2013 and 2014 and also won the NCCAA National Championship in both the hammer and weight. He earned his master's degree in education from Greenville in 2016. Josh and his wife, Ali, have one daughter, Lumi, and one son, Ash.

Michael Dunn begins his first season an assistant coach for the SMSU track & field programs in 2025-26.   Dunn comes to SMSU after spending the 2025 track & field seasons as an assistant coach/head jumps coach at Concordia College (Moorhead). Dunn previously spent 10 seasons as the head coach of the track & field and cross country teams at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minn., from 2015-25.   Dunn was named the BLC head cross country and track & field coach in 2015. During his tenure, BLC had its first male and female athletes qualify for the Division III indoor and national championships in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, including the program’s first All-American in the triple jump.   Dunn coached 19 women and four men to all-conference honors in cross country. In track and field, a total of 45 women were crowned conference champions in both indoor and outdoor while 32 men would earn the same distinction. He also had four athletes earn USTFCCCA All-Region honors.   During the 2022 track & field season, the BLC women’s indoor and outdoor teams both earned second place in the conference meet, while the 2022 women’s cross country team completed their best conference finish in program history, taking second place at the conference championships.   Prior to BLC, Dunn spent two seasons (2013-15) an assistant coach for both cross country and track and field at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. He worked with both men's and women's programs and helped coach multiple mid-distance and distance athletes to the NCAA Division I Regional and the first Gonzaga student-athlete to earn NCAA All-American honors.   Dunn’s coaching experience started in Nanchang, China, as the head track and field coach and teacher at Nanchang Institute of Technology University and led the team to a fifth-place finish at the provincial championship. Following a return to the states, he had coaching stints at Shanley High School and Oak Grove Lutheran High School, in Fargo, N.D.   Dunn is a 2011 graduate of Concordia College with a degree in communication studies with a coaching minor. He competed in both cross country and track & field while at Concordia. He earned his master’s degree in sports and athletic administration from Gonzaga University in 2015.