Hillary Merkley was recently promoted to the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. She officially became the head coach of the Idaho State Track and Field team in 2016.Â
A former Bengal herself, Merkley joined the Idaho State track and field coaching staff during the 2013-14 season. Merkley competed from 1998-01 and graduated with a Bachelors in Secondary Education and a Masters in Athletic Administration.
Academically, the Bengals have performed well since Merkley took charge. In 2017 Idaho State's runner Andrew Kaler was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American second team. Kaler was the first Idaho State student-athlete to ever receive the award.Â
Merkley won two Big Sky Championships as a Bengal. She won the 1999 Indoor Shot Put Championships with a distance of 46' 5.5" and the 2001 Outdoor Heptathlon Championships with 5,320 points, third all-time for Idaho State. Merkley holds the indoor shot put record with a distance of 48' 0.25", ranks third in the pentathlon with a score of 3,750, and third in the outdoor shot put with a distance of 47' 10.5".
Merkley's athletic honors include Big Sky Outdoor Outstanding Female Field Athlete, Most Valuable Track and Field Athlete, and North Central Washington College Athlete of the Year finalist. In 2012, she was inducted into the Idaho State University Hall of Fame.
Underneath Merkley, the Bengals have won multiple individual Big Sky Titles and in 2019, seven student athletes qualified for the NCAA West Region round of the NCAA Championships. Multiple new school records have been set during her time as head coach. In 2019 Idaho State athlete Michael Dean broke the 43-year-old record in the 60m with a time of 6.78s.
In 2000, Merkley was named the National Association for Sport and Physical Education Major of the Year and received the NCAA Continuing Education Grant in 2001. She was named Big Sky All-Academic from 1999-01.
Merkley was the President of Students of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Club and a College of Education Interclub Council Member in 2000. In 2001, she was the President of the Student Athlete Advisory Council and the NCAA Representative from Idaho State University for the Big Sky Conference. She participated in the Student Athlete Mentor Program and was a student representative on the NCAA Athletic Integrity Revision Committee from 1998-99.
She previously served as an assistant coach for the Bengals while she pursued a master's degree in 2002-03. She coached at Paradise Valley Community College from 2003-04 in Phoenix, Arizona and at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas from 2004-07. Merkley was the head track and field coach at Capital High School from 2009-11.
