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Dixon Farmer Named Athletic Director at Occidental College

Farmer, a leading figure in U.S. track and field for more than three decades, graduated from Occidental in 1963 and stayed on to serve as assistant and then head track and cross country coach for eight years. The 1961 NCAA 440 hurdles champion and All-American is an Occidental Track and Field Hall of Famer.

“I am delighted that Dixon, a major figure in Oxy’s long and distinguished athletic history and a coach who has been successful at every level of competition, from the NCAA finals to the Olympics, has agreed to return to Eagle Rock,” Mitchell said.

“His outstanding record as an athlete, as a coach and administrator, and as a mentor to and motivator of young athletes, make him the ideal person to fill this position,” Mitchell said.

Farmer succeeds James Kerman, who left Occidental last year. Peggy Carl, head men and women’s swimming coach, has served as the interim athletic director.

“I am thrilled to come back to the place that gave me some of my best competitive and coaching experiences, and look forward to working with Ted Mitchell and the college’s coaching staff to build on Oxy’s long history of producing outstanding scholar-athletes,” Farmer said.

For the past two years, Farmer has been track and field coordinator for the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. He will serve as assistant manager for the U.S. track and field team at this summer’s Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Previously, he was head track and cross country coach at Minnesota’s Gustavus Adolphus College, at San Diego State University, and the University of Michigan. He also served as head cross country coach and assistant track coach at the University of Washington.

During his tenure as a track and cross country coach at Occidental, the Tigers dominated the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, winning team championships in both sports for seven consecutive years. He was twice named Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s Coach of the Year at Gustavus Adolphus and was Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year at San Diego State.

A member of the 2000 Olympics Trials Site Selection Committee, Farmer chaired USA Track & Field’s Men’s Development Committee for seven years.

Located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, 113-year-old Occidental College is a selective, nationally ranked college of the liberal arts and sciences. Competing at the NCAA Division III level, Occidental fields teams in 19 intercollegiate sports – nine for men, nine for women, and one mixed (golf). Oxy’s women’s water polo team won the Division III national championship in May.