Aaron Kindt comes to Penn State after spending five seasons as Auburn’s cross country and distance coach. During his tenure, Kindt’s runners produced three All-America honors, one SEC champion, seven school records, six NCAA qualifiers, three SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, a conference Freshman Runner of the Year and 40 all-time top performances across the indoor and outdoor seasons.
In the 2025-26 saseason, Kindt’s distance runners made a signficant impact on the program record books. Max Hardin broke a 45-year-old school record in the outdoor 1,500 meters with a time of 3:38.28, while Camila Gomes set the indoor mile record at 4:36.34. Nickson Chebii added an indoor school record in the 5,000 meters, clocking 13:35.20, after finishing runner-up at the SEC Cross Country Championships and 41st at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Kindt helped lead Auburn to a program milestone during the 2024 cross country season, as three runners qualified individually for the NCAA Championships, the most individual qualifiers in program history. Freshman Brenda Jepchirchir highlighted the group, earning SEC Freshman Runner of the Year honors before placing 21st at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America recognition. Jepchirchir continued her success on the track in 2025, breaking seven Auburn program and freshman records across the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Kindt also coached Joyce Kimeli to the first SEC Outdoor title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in Auburn program history. Kimeli went on to earn All-America honors during the outdoor season. Ryan Hardin added an SEC silver medal in the outdoor 1,500 meters after setting Auburn’s men’s freshman record in the event earlier in the season with a time of 3:41.83.
Under Kindt’s guidance, Ryan Kinnane broke Auburn’s 42-year-old indoor mile record in 2024, clocking 3:58.28 to become just the second runner in program history to break the four-minute barrier. Kinnane also contributed to Auburn’s record-setting distance medley relay, which ran 9:24.43 to break a program record that had stood since 2009 and, at the time, ranked as the 12th-fastest performance in NCAA indoor history and a distance medley relay silver medal at the 2024 SEC Indoor Championships.
Kindt’s Auburn cross country teams combined for five All-SEC and six SEC All-Freshman honors, while the 2023 men’s team placed fifth at the SEC Championships for the program’s best finish in nearly a decade. His athletes also excelled academically, highlighted by Kinnane becoming the first athlete in Auburn track and field history to earn SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors three times.
Prior to Auburn, Kindt spent seven seasons overseeing the women’s distance program at Southern Miss, where he was promoted to associate head coach for track and field in July 2021. He guided the Golden Eagles to runner-up finishes at the Conference USA Cross Country Championships in 2017 and 2019, while his distance program contributed to Southern Miss’ first Women’s Indoor Conference USA Championship in 2020. The Golden Eagles’ distance medley relay captured the conference title that season, marking the first indoor distance conference championship in program history.
During his seven seasons at Southern Miss, Kindt coached six First Team All-Conference performers, 17 Second Team selections and 17 Third Team honorees across cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. Each of his cross country teams also earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team recognition.
Before Southern Miss, Kindt spent two seasons as an assistant coach at North Florida, where he helped develop the 2012 Atlantic Sun women’s cross country runner-up and 2014 distance medley relay conference champion while contributing to the men’s third-place finish at the 2013 Atlantic Sun Indoor Championships.
Kindt began his coaching career at Florida, serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the Gators’ cross country and track and field programs from 2010-12.
A native of Orlando, Fla., Kindt was a four-year letterwinner in cross country and track and field at Florida, competing in events ranging from the 1,500 to the 10,000 meters. He graduated from Florida in 2010 and later earned a master’s degree in sport management from Southern Miss.