Western Washington University Athletics

T.J. Garlatz is headed into his 12th season as a member of the WWU Track & Field and Cross Country program as an assistant coach. He rejoined the program in 2018-19 after 11 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He previously spent time as an assistant at Western from 2004-07.

In 2023, he was recognized alongside the rest of the cross country staff for helping lead the Viking women to their first-ever NCAA Division II West Region Championships team title before placing 14th at the NCAA Championships.

In 2021, Garlatz was instrumental in leading WWU's distance program to soaring heights, leading to 10 All-GNAC performances, five conference titles and two school records. He was selected as the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

Prior to returning to the Northwest, Garlatz was most recently an associate head coach at UAA, where his duties also included working as an assistant for compliance.

At UAA between cross country and track, Garlatz guided distance and middle distance runners to produce eight NCAA individual titles, 106 All-American performances, 70 individual GNAC championships, and 240 All-GNAC honors. In cross country, his teams combined to win 16 GNAC team titles and place top 10 at the NCAA D2 national championships 17 times and top 6 nationally 10 times.

Garlatz was honored in 2010 when he was named the USTFCCCA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year for the outdoor season.

A postgraduate athlete at WWU, Garlatz competed in both cross country and track & field for one season, helping lead the Vikings to the 2003 GNAC cross country title and to the team’s first-ever NCAA II Cross Country Championships appearance. He also earned an individual conference championship in the 10,000m at the 2003 GNAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The former NCAA Division II Academic All-American earned a bachelor’s of arts in mathematics from the University of Washington in 2002 and a master’s of science in exercise Science from WWU in 2007. He and his wife Kristin were married in 2010 and have two young children, Oliver and Juliet.