Antonio (Tony) McDaniel took over as the fourth head coach in IUPUI women’s cross country history in June 2011 after a two-year stint as top assistant under Joni Sanders. He was promoted to Women's Director of Track & Field/Cross Country in August 2024.
McDaniel has had at least one runner earn first team all-league honors in cross country in each of the past three seasons and also saw the program's first-ever individual league champion in track in 2019 as senior Allie Wright captured the league title in the 1,500m event. In cross country, Zoey Johnson earned first team honors in 2016 and Katelyn Murphy was a first team finisher in 2017, helping IUPUI to a runner-up finish in the first season in the Horizon League. In 2018, Libby Bowling was a first team honoree and earned the Horizon League's Freshman of the Year Award, while Murphy and Morgan Fleming earned second team honors.
McDaniel has spearheaded incremental growth in the team's success, leading the Jaguars to three meet wins and eight runner-up finishes in his eight year career. In addition, the program has earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors every year he's been with the program. In 2018 and 2019, his squads ranked among the top-5 nationally in team grade point average with his 2018-19 squad missing the top spot by just three-hundredths of a point.
The Jaguars' record book has been completely rewritten as 12 of the program's 15 quickest 5K times and 13 of the program's 15 best 6K times have come during McDaniel's tenure. As the lone track coach in program history, the entire record book has been established under his tenure and is
McDaniel is USATF Level 1 certified.
McDaniel graduated from Indiana State in 2007 with a degree in Social Science Education. He was a four-year letterwinner for the Sycamores cross country team, helping ISU to three straight conference crowns. Individually, he was an All-MVC performer in 2005 and Verizon Scholar Athlete in 2004. Over the course of his career, he also earned the team's Most Improved and Leadership Award. At the conclusion of his career, he held the tenth fastest 8K time in program history. He also competed on the ISU track team throughout his career.
McDaniel prepped at Indianapolis Pike High School and ran for Sanders his senior year. He was a three-year letterwinner in both track and cross country and capped his career with a Most Valuable Runner award. He was also named Most Improved while at Pike.
McDaniel and his wife, Mary, reside in Indianapolis and are parents to a daughter, Maya.
| McDaniel's IUPUI Cross Country Career |
| Year |
Meet Wins |
Meet Runner-Ups |
Conf. Finish |
Reg. Finish |
| 2011 |
0 |
0 |
8th |
21st |
| 2012 |
0 |
0 |
7th |
24th |
| 2013 |
1 |
1 |
4th |
18th |
| 2014 |
1 |
1 |
4th |
19th |
| 2015 |
1 |
0 |
4th |
21st |
| 2016 |
0 |
2 |
4th |
20th |
| 2017 |
0 |
2 |
2nd |
24th |
| 2018 |
0 |
2 |
3rd |
21st |
| 2019 |
0 |
0 |
5th |
23rd |
| 2020 |
0 |
0 |
3rd |
n/a |
| 2021 |
0 |
0 |
10th |
n/a |
| 2022 |
0 |
1 |
4th |
26th |
| 2023 |
0 |
0 |
4th |
n/a |
| Totals |
3 |
9 |
|
|
