Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Distance)
- Email:
- ianmo42@live.unc.edu
Ahead of his fifth season at UNC, North Carolina Track & Field Head Coach Chris Miltenberg announced the promotion of Ian Moini to Associate Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Cross Country. In this role, Moini works closely with Miltenberg in leading and coaching the program’s distance group.
Since joining the staff in August of 2021, Moini has played a key role in elevating UNC into one of the premier distance programs in the country. Under his guidance, the men’s team has finished in the top five of the USTFCCCA Program of the Year rankings in back-to-back years, with three straight top-10 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and consecutive top-10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
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During the 2024–25 season, Moini’s athletes produced historic results:
- 2 NCAA Records
- 2 NCAA Top-10 Team Finishes
- 2 NCAA Individual Champions (Ethan Strand – Indoor 3K, Makayla Paige – Indoor 800m)
- 3 NCAA Runner-Up Finishes (Indoor DMR – Unratified American Record, Strand – Outdoor 1500m, Paige – Outdoor 800m)
In 2023-2024, UNC won its first ACC Cross Country Championship since 1985 and its first ACC Indoor title since 1996. Parker Wolfe became the first Tar Heel to win the individual ACC Cross Country title since 1997. The men’s team went on to place 5th at the NCAA Indoor Championships — its best finish since 1973 — with Moini’s athletes contributing 26 points, the highest total of any distance group in the NCAA. Wolfe also captured the NCAA title in the outdoor 5000m and placed third at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the same event.
To date, Moini has directly coached four Tar Heels to 14 individual ACC titles and over 40 All-America honors across cross country, indoor, and outdoor seasons.
He has played a key role in the development of two of the most accomplished distance runners in NCAA history: Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe.
- Ethan Strand was the 2025 NCAA Champion in the Indoor 3,000m and became the first athlete ever to break the NCAA records in both the indoor mile and 3,000m in the same season. He also finished as the national runner-up in the indoor DMR and outdoor 1500m. Strand ran 3:33.22 for 1500m, the second-fastest time in NCAA history and an ACC/UNC record, and set UNC records in the indoor mile, 3,000m, and DMR. He placed second at the 2025 USOutdoor Championships, qualifying for the World Championships team in the 1500m.
- Parker Wolfe was the 2024 NCAA Champion in the outdoor 5000m and became the first four-time men’s cross country All-American in UNC history. He is the only athlete ever to win ACC Performer of the Year honors in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track in the same academic year (2023–24). Wolfe ran the second-fastest indoor 3,000m and eighth-fastest outdoor 5,000m in NCAA history, and won seven ACC titles. He placed third at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 5,000m, setting the UNC school record.
As UNC’s lead distance recruiting coordinator over the past three years, Moini has helped sign 12 athletes who earned Gatorade Cross Country or Track honors in their home states. In the 2025 class, Tommy Latham became the first prep runner from Georgia to break the 4-minute mile barrier.
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Moini spent the spring ’21 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University. The men’s team won the indoor MAC Championship.
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Moini is a 2021 graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he earned a bachelor's degree in education with a minor in coaching education. He competed on the varsity cross country and track & field teams as a student-athlete.
