Dusty Lopez enters his third season as Head Coach of the Williams College men's and women's cross country teams in 2025. He also works as the Assistant Coach for distance events during the track and field season and is entering his 10th season in 2025-26.

During the 2024 season, the men's and women's cross country teams emerged victorious during the NESCAC Championship. The women's team placed first overall during the NCAA Regional Championship, while earning a third-place finish at the national meet. The men's team placed second and 10th overall, respectively, during the regional and national meets.

During his first season as head coach of the cross country teams in 2023, the men's team won the NESCAC Championship, finished first out of 25 at the NCAA MidEast Championship and placed fourth out of 32 at the NCAA Championship. The women's team won the NESCAC Championship, finished first out of 24 at the NCAA MidEast Championship and placed sixth out of 32 at the NCAA Championship.
 
"Dusty brings with him a wealth of experience from across NCAA cross country and track & field,” said Athletic Director Lisa Melendy. “We are thrilled to have him take over the reins of a program he has already done so much to build, both as a former Scholar-Athlete and as an Assistant Coach."

Lopez served as an Assistant Coach for the cross country program from 2016-23, while also coaching the middle distance and distance events during track. During that time, the Ephs continued their tradition of success, producing a third-place team finish in men’s cross country (2021), along with the women’s team earning a top-three finish in 2019 and fourth place in 2016. The men won NESCAC Championships in 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022, while the women took the same top honors in the conference five times (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022).
 
On the track, Lopez has worked closely with the distance squad to produce numerous All-Americans, school records and NESCAC Championship performances. Aidan Ryan ’22 graduated as a two-time NCAA champion and the NCAA Division III record holder in the mile (3:56.88) and indoor 3 kilometer (7:54.48). From 2017-23, the Ephs reset eight indoor school records and seven outdoor school records.
 
From 2012-16, Lopez was a member of the men’s coaching staff at the University of Michigan, where the team won a Big Ten cross country championship in 2015 and finished ninth at the NCAA Championships. Prior to Michigan, he was the Head Coach for cross country and track & field at Webster University from 2007-12, where he was tasked with starting the men’s cross country team, along with the men’s and women’s track team. In 2011, Lopez coached the women’s cross country team to its first-ever conference championship and the highest finish in program history at the NCAA Regional meet.
 
In his first coaching stint at Williams as an Assistant Coach (2005-07), Lopez helped coach national cross country champion, Neal Holtschulte, and NCAA 5/10 kilometer outdoor and 5 kilometer indoor champion, Caroline Cretti.

Team performances during Lopez's first years coaching at Williams included the women winning the NESCAC and NCAA Regional titles, while finishing second and eighth at the NCAA Championships. The Eph men were also NESCAC champions in 2006, before finishing seventh at the NCAA Championship.
 
Lopez got his start in coaching as an assistant at Syracuse University from 2002-04, where the team experienced growth and development in the highly competitive Big East Conference.

Lopez is a 2001 graduate of Williams, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in History. A four-year letter winner in cross country and track & field for the Ephs, Lopez was a captain his senior year. He was a three-time All American and graduated as the school record holder at 10,000 meters.

Lopez, his wife, Caitlin, and their three children, reside in Williamstown, Massachusetts.