John Newell is entering his second season as assistant coach for the track & field program. Newell oversees the throwers on the Spartan roster and in his short time with the program, Newell has made an immediate impact.

Newell has coached five school-record holders, four NCAA Mideast Regional qualifiers including Anthony Agrusa, who finished third at the Big Ten Championships and Zoe Pelbart, who qualified for the NCAA Championships in the javelin. Under Newell's guidance, the Michigan State throwers had the strongest season in the history of the MSU throws program with eight Big Ten finalists during the 2008 season.

He arrived in East Lansing after spending a year at Ashland University in Ohio. At Ashland Newell was trained as a hammer thrower with Jud Logan a four-time Olympian as his coach and mentor. Before his move to Ashland Ohio Newell completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia where he was coached by Don Babbitt. He was a six time NCAA qualifier in the hammer, weight, and was an All-American in the shot put (18.97m). During his throwing career, Newell proved himself as an all around thrower ranking in the top 15 of all-time as a combination event thrower.

Newell is a record holder in hammer, shot put events at Sacramento City College, where he earned an associates degree in 2002. He then moved on to Georgia, where he served as a Bulldogs' team captain and became an All-American in the shot put. He received a bachelor of science degree in sociology from the university in 2005. Newell is also an ISSA certified personal trainer and spent the summer of 2006 training in throwing events with Hungary's national hammer coaches.