Matt Chisam Joins Cal Staff as Assistant Coach

Aug. 19, 2011



BERKELEY - Matt Chisam, an All-American decathlete as a collegian who spent the past five years at Harvard, has joined the California track & field staff as an assistant coach where he will primarily work with the Golden Bears in the pole vault and jumps.



While with the Crimson from 2006-11, Chisam helped develop and implement training programs for the hurdles, pole vault, high jump and multi-events. He directly coached four conference champions, as well as 18 ECAC or IC4A qualifiers. In addition, Chisam handled a number of administrative responsibilities, including coordination of timing systems for home meets, managing Harvard's multi-event competitions and playing an active role in hosting the 2009 Indoor Heptagonal Championships.



While at the Massachusetts school, Chisam also served as a volunteer coach with the Cambridge Jets, overseeing sprints and jumps training for a local youth team. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Alhambra High School in Martinez, Calif., working with student-athletes in the shot put and discus.



Chisam starred at the college level at nearby UC Davis, finishing as the NCAA Division II runner-up in the decathlon in 2003 and serving as team captain in 2005. He also won conference titles in the decathlon and 110-meter hurdles and received a school-wide Outstanding Senior Award from the university.



Chisam continued to compete in the decathlon through 2009. Most recently, he took ninth at the 2009 USA championships in the decathlon, was fourth in the indoor combined event championships in the heptathlon in '09 and placed 15th in the decathlon at the 2008 Olympic Trials.



Chisam has been the USATF Athlete Advisory Committee representative for the decathlon since 2010, and he served as an assistant coach for the USATF decathlon team for the 2011 Thorpe Cup, a competition between athletes from the United States and Germany.



Among the athletes he has mentored are Nathalie Grant, who holds the Jamaican record in the hammer (216-10), and Beck Christensen, who has cleared 6-3.25 in the high jump.



Chisam received his bachelor's degree in optical science and engineering from UC Davis in 2005. He is also a certified athletic trainer.



Chisam is the son of Scott and Roberta Chisam, both longtime track & field coaches who remain active with the sport. Scott Chisam guided the UCLA women's team to NCAA title in 1982 and '83 and later was an assistant at Stanford, while Roberta Chisam is currently the girls' cross country coach at St. Francis High School in Mountain View. Both have also served on several Olympic and international team staffs.

Courtesy California

Keith Conning: Matt's uncle was Tim Bruder, who was the Head Cross Country and Track and Field Coach at Alhambra High School in Martinez, from 1983 to 2009.