Staff Directory

Jafet Molinares

Title:
Assistant Coach (Distance)
Email:

Jafet Molinares was hired as an assistant coach (distance) in January 2026.

His impact was immediately felt as he helped the UNT women's program win the American Conference Indoor Track and Field title while finishing second on the men's side at the Outdoor Championships in 2026. Molinares was instrumental in the growth of London Maxwell who won the title in both the Mile at the American Indoor and the 1500 Meters at the American Outdoor Championships. Under his watch in his first season, Maxwell broke the indoor program record in the 3000-meters while Ximena Lopez de Escalera broke the indoor 5000-meter as well as the outdoor 10,000 meter records.

Molinares arrived at UNT following a successful stint at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, where he led one of the nation's top NJCAA programs and coached All-American performers. He is the two-time reigning USTFCCCA Central Region Men's Head Cross Country Coach of the Year and also won the Women's award in 2025. He also coached the USTFCCCA Central Region Male and Female Athletes of the Year and individual national champions this past fall at Hutchinson, while the men's team finished national runner-up and the women claimed a third-place finish. In all at Hutchinson, Molinares coached 13 All-American performers combined in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.

Before his three-year run at Hutchinson, Molinares was the coach at Fort Scott Community College for three seasons (one as an assistant and two as head cross country coach) and coached 16 All-American performers in cross country and track. Before that, Molinares spent one season at Iowa Central Community College as an assistant, where the Tritons won the NJCAA Indoor national title on the men's side and was runner-up on the women's side.

As a student-athlete, Molinares was part of the 2013 NJCAA national championship half-marathon team at Iowa Central Community College before he transferred to Fort Hays State and ended up serving as a graduate assistant for the Tigers and coached an individual national champion, six MIAA conference champions and had runners set 14 new program records.