Cliff Cisar was hired as a full-time assistant coach for the Omaha track & field team and the head coach of the cross country program in the summer of 2017, extending his tenure that began in 2010 as a volunteer assistant. He spent two seasons (2015-17) as a part-time assistant.
Since 2016, Cisar has coached all 25 Maverick athletes who hold a spot among UNO’s all-time top-25 list in the 6k distance in cross country. In the fall of 2018, he coached Emily Johnson to a ninth-place finish in the Summit League Cross Country Championships which garnered her a Second Team All-Summit honor. In 2019, Johnson followed up her successful 2018 campaign by setting the school record of 21:12.9 in the 6k at the Bradley Pink Classic. Johnson went on to finish third at the Summit League Cross Country Championships which earned her a First Team All-Summit honor.
In the Fall of 2022, he coached eight athletes to new spots among UNO’s all-time top-25 list in the 6k distance. Highlighted by freshman Kamryn Ensley who went on to finish fourth overall at the Summit League Cross Country Championships where she captured First Team All-Summit honors and the Summit League Newcomer of the Year award as the top finishing freshman of the meet. Ensley went on to finish 32nd in the NCAA Division I Midwest Region Cross Country Championships in a new school record time of 20:54.2, finishing the highest finish of any Maverick freshman in the DI era.
On the track, Cisar has coached or assisted in helping develop Maverick athletes to 46 new marks that rank among UNO’s all-time top-10 lists in the middle distance and distance events. Including All-Summit performers Alyssa Thavenet, who had a third-place finish in the 800 meters in the 2017 indoor championships, Lauren Houston who was a three-time runner-up in the league championships in the 800 meters, and Emily Johnson who had a runner-up finish in the 10,000 meters in 2019. Johnson also currently holds the outdoor school records in the 5,000 meters, 16:51.56 and 10,000 meters, 36:02.12. Houston and Thavenet also were members of the 2017 4x800m relay team with Anita Jenkins and Kayla Sabotin that broke the indoor school record at the SDSU Indoor Classic, a record that had stood since 1984.
Cisar was also instrumental among a small group including Chris Gannon of Creighton University, Lindsay Brown & Emily Winckler of the Omaha Sports Commission, and Jake Rodiek of the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission in the creation of the Olsson Cross Country course at Platte River State Park. A one-of-a-kind facility solely dedicated to the sport of cross country in the state of Nebraska. This course is the home of the Platte River Rumble, a festival type cross country meet that has helped the Omaha Mavericks have a yearly home competition. As well as the ability to host the largest high school cross country meet in the state of Nebraska starting Fall 2023.
From 2010 until 2015, he was a volunteer cross country and track coach for UNO. He was an integral part in helping the Mavericks reach new heights in the middle distance and distance program including the setting of seven school records.
Cisar also spent 11 years working at Peak Performance, improving Omaha area runners by conducting gait analysis and developing 10k through marathon training & form running clinics, and managing sales.
An Omaha native and a graduate of Omaha Burke High School, Cisar graduated from UNO in 2012 with a degree in exercise science.
