by Larry Eder
UA alum Cale Wallace hired as Arkansas men’s distance coach
FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas men’s head coach Doug Case has announced the hiring of UA alum Cale Wallace as the Razorbacks men’s head coach in cross country and assistant coach in track and field.
“It’s a true dream come true,” stated Wallace. “When I started volunteering at Arkansas you always dream about coming back and getting to do the real thing and being in charge. It’s just a true dream come true.
“Even when I started coaching it was something that you always hoped and thought it would happen, and it kind of happened a lot sooner than maybe I would have thought. So, I’m just super excited.”
A former All-America and team captain with the Razorbacks, Wallace has coached at Iowa State since 2021. In 2024, he was promoted to women’s cross country associate head coach and served as track and field assistant coach in leading the Iowa State women’s distance group.
“We’re super excited about Cale coming in here,” said Case. “He’s alumni and a great athlete while he was here at Arkansas. He’s excited and we’re excited. I think it’s going to a really good situation.
“We hired a guy who has great experience at a very high level with both men and women. He’ll be in charge of the men’s distance program here. It’s the experience that counts when you look at somebody that can do these things. I love that he’s alumni and knows our system as well as the city of Fayetteville and all the people around it. I can’t wait to get him here and get him going.”
During the 2025 cross country season, Iowa State women finished runner-up to BYU in the Big 12 Championships and third in the NCAA Midwest Region behind Oklahoma State and Northwestern. They earned an at-large selection for the NCAA Championships where the Cyclones placed 20th with a pair of All-America finishers.
The Iowa State men’s cross country program produced a pair of NCAA runner-up finishes in recent seasons.
“Just being around a program that twice in the years that I worked with the men we finished second at the national championship,” said Wallace. “Being around that kind of environment and culture definitely showed me what it takes from a coaching perspective. Working with the women we were able to transform a team that didn’t make nationals last year to a team that was ranked as high as No. 6 in the country this year.
“From an athlete perspective I got a lot of that during my time working with Coach Bucknam and working with not just the distance runners, but including the hurdlers, the jumpers, and the sprinters. That’s kind of the cool part about Arkansas is being around all the event areas.”
In working with Iowa State steeplechasers, Wallace coached a pair of Iowa native athletes to bronze medal performances in the 2024 NCAA Championships as each bettered men’s and women’s Cyclone school records in addition to securing the automatic standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“He’s had great success in everything that he’s done,” noted Case. “Not only in the cross country realm, but also on the track. He’s had tremendous success from the 800m all the way up to the 10,000m with kids he’s coached and recruited there at Iowa State.
“He’ll come in here and we’ll have that same experience. He’s excited about it and I think we have a lot of recruiting power. Then when you add a guy like Cale into the mix we’re going to get some good kids.”
Prior to coaching at Iowa State, Wallace served as an assistant coach for two seasons at North Dakota. During his time at North Dakota he guided the Fighting Hawks to its highest finish in cross country since the program entered Division I with the men placing third and the women runner-up at the Summit League Championships.
Wallace also spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant at Arkansas.
Competing with the Razorbacks from 2012 to 2017, Wallace was a team captain both in cross country and during the track and field season. He earned a first-team All-America honor as a member of the distance medley relay that placed seventh in the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships.
“I think what I look forward to from the coaching perspective is just continuing to try to uphold that tradition of excellence,” noted Wallace. “In my five years as an athlete at Arkansas, we never lost a conference championship in cross country. In the 10 indoor and outdoor track seasons, I think we won six of them.
“So just getting to be a part of that as a coach and getting to contribute year round is something that I’m really excited about, and not just on the cross country course. There’s three seasons in the year for us. At Arkansas we’re trying to win every single season and so I’m just really, really excited about that.”
Wallace produced a career best of 8:41.47 in claiming a silver medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2016 SEC Championships. He qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary round twice in the steeplechase in 2016 and 2017.
At the SEC Indoor Championships, Wallace was a member of distance medley relays that placed fourth (2016) and fifth (2015). He also finished fifth in the mile at the 2014 SEC Indoor.
Competing in the 4 x 800m relay, Wallace was part of a Texas Relays victory in 2014 as well as runner-up finishes at the 2014 and 2015 Drake Relays.
In cross country, Wallace competed at four consecutive NCAA Championships. At SEC Championships, Wallace placed 14th (2012), 15th (2013), eighth (2014), and 17th (2015) as Arkansas claimed team titles each year. In the South Central Region, he finished sixth (2015) and ninth (2014).
Wallace is married to Logan (Bishop), who is also a UA alum and was part of the women’s track and field program. They have a son, Pierce, who is two years old.
