Henry Brun is in his sixth year as the head track & field coach of the Friends University Falcons.
Last year, Brun was named the KCAC Men's Indoor Track & Field Head Coach of the Year after guiding the Men's Indoor Track & Field Falcons to their first KCAC championship since 2020-21 season, with the women claiming a top-three finish. In the outdoor season, the Falcon Men recorded a solid runner-up finish and Women's Falcons came in fourth.
On July 1st, 2022, Brun was officially promoted to the Director of Cross Country/Track & Field and now oversees the operations for both programs.
The 2022 season was yet another historic year under Brun’s guidance, his third season with the program.
The indoor season was highlighted by the women’s program winning a record eighth-straight KCAC team championship and the men finishing as conference runners-up while earning both the KCAC Athlete of the Meet (Marcquiece Cade) and KCAC Field Athlete of the Meet (Chiante Stewart). Brun was honored as KCAC Coach of the Year for his efforts. Thrower Kortney Schutt also earned NAIA South Central Region Field Athlete of the Year recognition. The women’s program ranked in the NAIA Top-15 throughout the indoor season and the men leaped to as high as fourth in the NAIA national standings, their highest ranking in program history.
The outdoor season saw strong KCAC team runner-up finishes by both the men’s and women’s programs, highlighted by the men’s KCAC Athlete of the Meet (Marcquiece Cade) and the women’s KCAC Field Athlete of the Meet (Kortney Schutt). The program went on to have a record number (27) of NAIA National Championship qualifiers. Schutt was again honored by the NAIA as South Central Region Field Athlete of the Year. The women were ranked within the NAIA Top-10 throughout the outdoor season and the men stayed within the NAIA Top-25.
In the summer of 2022, Schutt was awarded the Honorary ESPY for Small College Female Athlete of the Year by ESPN Wichita.
Overall for the 2021-22 season, the Track & Field programs established 16 new school records and had 52 NAIA National qualifiers and 22 NAIA All-American honors during the 2022 season. Both programs were also recognized as NAIA All-Academic programs for the third consecutive season.
In his second season, both programs reached a new level of conference success with a team sweep at the KCAC Championships and national success being ranked within the NAIA Top-five, and the women’s program finishing fourth overall at the Indoor National Championships – tying
the best team finish in program history.
Brun was named NAIA Regional Coach of the Year in 2021 for his efforts.
In 2020, saw the women’s program capture the KCAC conference title and post a sixth-place finish at the Indoor National Championships.
Prior to his time at Friends University, Brun developed the Cross Country/Track & Field
programs at Benedictine College (NAIA) to conference and national relevance from 2015-2019 which included two HAAC team titles, a pair of NAIA Regional Athletes of the Year, 16 All-Americans and one National Champion. In addition, his teams boasted 42 Academic All-Americans.
Brun had been at the helm of the Benedictine Ravens' track & field program since 2015 and had recently been promoted to the Director of Cross Country/Track & Field.
Under Brun's guidance, the Raven's track and field programs vaulted into elite status, with the women's team surging into the top 20 nationally and the men's squad achieving a top 30 national ranking for the first time in school history. Brun's success culminated with a Heart of America conference Women's Indoor Championship in 2016 that earned Brun the Coach of the Year award for the women's indoor season.
Brun oversaw 34 indoor and outdoor conference individual/relay championships along with 63 NAIA national championship qualifiers and 47 new school records at Benedictine.
He also coached 16 NAIA All-America winners and guided the 4 X 800 meter women's relay team to the NAIA National Championship in the 2016 season.
Before taking over the Benedictine track programs, Brun served as the Associate Track & Field Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator at NCAA D-III program Adrian College.
At Adrian, Brun's duties included coaching sprints, jumps and hurdles and planning strength and conditioning programs. He also coordinated team academic progress, established an alumni/family support program, facilitated fundraising efforts and assisted in community service projects.
Brun competed collegiately at Alma College, where he was an NCAA D-III All-America performer in the Triple Jump and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and New Media Studies.
Prior to venturing into his current track & field career, Brun served in the United States Air Force from 2005-2010.
He currently has his USA Track & Field Level 2 Certification specializing in Sprints, Hurdles and Relays along with his USTFCCCA Track & Field Technical Certification.
