Early Life
Coghlan was born in Drimnagh, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland. He lived in Rye, New York for a number of years in the 1980s before returning to live in Ireland. He was a childhood friend of Brian Kerr, who went on to manage the Irish national football team.
Coghlan's first running club was the Celtic Athletic Club. On its breakup he moved to the Metropolitan Harriers and was coached by Gerry Farnan. he won the Leinster colleges cross country championships & the 5000m track title in 1970. The following year he won the All-Ireland 1500 metres and 5000 metres titles. In 1971 he was offered a scholarship by Villanova University. The famous running coach James 'Jumbo' Elliott invited Coghlan to train for the Villanova track and field team. While there he won four NCAA individual titles over 1500 meters and the mile. On 10 May 1975 Coghlan ran his first sub 4 minute mile in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (3:56.2). One week later, on 17 May, he broke the long standing European Outdoor Mile record of Michel Jazy, in a time of 3:53.3 in Kingston, Jamaica. He graduated from Villanova University, Pennsylvania, USA in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Communications.
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