For the last 21 years, Doug Wells has served at the Director of the Cerritos College track and field program. In three of the last five years, he helped guide the Falcon women’s track and field program to the state championship, including two of the last three seasons. In addition, the men’s program came in third place last season, while they tied for second place and missed the title by just 10 points two seasons ago, with the women tying for third place. At the conclusion of the 2009 track season, Wells was named the California Community College Cross Country and Track Coaches Association Coach of the Year. He has helped celebrate the women’s state championships with women’s head coach Michael Allen, as the team also won the Southern California and South Coast Conference championships in both of their championship seasons. One of the best recruiting tools for the track and field program is the new surface that is considered to be one of the best in the country. Acquiring the surface was the main goal that Wells had been working on for years. Along with the success of the women’s program and the new surface, the men’s team program is also very strong and a force at the state championships each year. The success of the women’s program recently includes four Southern California and four conference championships in the last six years.

Both the men’s and women’s teams this season will be state contenders, as the men’s team returns two state champions (Ameer Webb and Gabriel Hilbert), with the women boasting state champion Tanisha Hawkins, who also ran a leg of the 1600-meter relay team that won the state championship. Back in 2008, when the women won the state title, the college hosted the state championship, and it was a great opportunity to showcase not only the facility, but the strength of both programs. After the women’s team won the state championship in 2006, Wells was chosen to serve as the Head Manager for the U.S. National Track and Field Team and guided them at the NACAC Under-23 Team, which was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was selected by a special staff selection meeting of the International Competition Committee at the USA Track and Field National Convention.

In addition to running the track and field program and serving as the men’s cross country coach for the past 11 seasons, Wells also spent 10 years as a Falcon assistant football coach, until retiring from the gridiron. Wells has had a great deal of success as a track and field coach, especially at Taft College. In 10 years at Taft, he guided his teams to a state championship and seven conference titles, while Wells was named the California Coach of the Year twice. At Cerritos, he was named the California Coaches Association Coach of the Year for the third time in his career, while he was awarded the Coach of the Year honor by the California Track and Running News five times.

Wells attended Porterville Union High School, where he was a football and track star. He transferred to the University of Utah, where he competed in the NCAA Championships and was an All-American as a decathlete in 1970, while also playing fullback on the football team. Wells continued to compete in track events and won several shot put and discus National Championships in Master’s competition. Wells earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Physical Education from the University of Utah.

Wells and his wife Darlene reside in Carson and have five children – Ron, Rene, Cherri, Gordon and Jason, along with six grandchildren. His youngest son, Jason, was an All-Big West selection in football in 1992 and his eldest grandson, Ian Crichton, competed on the Falcon track team for two seasons. In both years, he placed in the state championships in the javelin.