UCLA Track and Field Coaching Staff Announced for 2012-13

UCLA Track and Field Coaching Staff Announced for 2012-13 Impressive new staff added by Director of Track and Field Mike Maynard.

Director of Track and Field Mike Maynard

Sept. 26, 2012




As he begins his fourth year on the UCLA track and field staff, and his first as the Director of the Bruin track and field program, Mike Maynard on Wednesday announced some additions to his UCLA coaching staff. The new coaching staff includes volunteers Maurice Greene, former world record-holder in the men's 100m, and Sharon Day, the top U.S. finisher in the heptathlon at the 2012 Olympics.

For three seasons, Maynard was the Bruin men's track & field head coach and directed both the women's and men's throwers. He will continue to coach the women's and men's throws and the decathlon. Before coming to UCLA, Maynard was the head track & field coach at Boise State for nine seasons and the associate head track & field coach at Arizona for 13 years.

Jeanette Bolden, who begins her 20th year as the UCLA women's track & field head coach, will manage the women's and men's sprints and hurdles. Bolden has led the Bruin women to three NCAA Championships (2000 and 2001 Indoor, 2004 Outdoor) and was a sprinter for the U. S. team at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, winning a gold medal on the 4 X 100m relay.

Volunteer coach Rob Jarvis has been assigned to the women's and men's jumps and the decathlon. Jarvis comes to UCLA after having served as an assistant coach for the sprints, hurdles, relays and multi-events at Azusa Pacific University for the past five years. While at APU he helped coach the team to a combined eight NAIA National Championship titles (six men, two women) and seven GSAC conference titles.

Once again assisting Bolden will be volunteer Bob Kersee, in his 32nd season on the Bruin staff and 19th in a volunteer capacity. Kersee, who was also the UCLA's women's track & field head coach from 1985-1993, is one of the premier sprints and hurdles coaches in the world. At the recently completed Olympic Games in London, he coached Allyson Felix to three Olympic gold medals in the 200m, 4 X 100m 4 X 400m relays. Felix became the first American woman to win three golds in track & field at the Olympics since Bruin great Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, S. Korea.

Throughout his illustrious coaching career, Kersee has guided many Bruins to Olympic glory, including Dawn Harper (2012 - 100m hurdles silver, 2008 - 100m hurdles gold), Joanna Hayes (2004 - 100m hurdles gold) and Gail Devers (1992 - 100m gold, 1996 - 100m gold, 4 X 100m gold). Kersee coached, and is married to, UCLA legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who won six Olympic medals, including three gold, in the long jump and heptathlon at the 1988 Olympics and in the heptathlon at the 1992 Olympics.

Maurice Greene, as a volunteer Bruin coach, will specialize in the men's 100m, 200m and 4 X 100m relay. He once held the world record in the men's 100m (9.79/1999), won four Olympic medals (2000 - gold in the 100m and 4X100m relay; 2004 - 100m bronze, 4X100m silver) and was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2011. Johnny Gray is entering his fourth year as a full-time assistant and is the Bruins' middle distance coach, specializing in the women's and men's 400m, 800m, 1,500m and 400m hurdles. Gray, a four-time U. S. Olympian in the 800m, still holds the American record in the outdoor (1:42.60) and indoor (1:45.00) 800m and was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2008.

Joining Gray as a new full-time coach is Chris Asher, who will help with the women's and men's 400m and 4 X 400m relay and assist in the Bruins' recruiting efforts. For the last 10 years at Cal State LA, Asher was the Golden Eagles head coach for women's cross country, women's indoor track and field and women's and men's outdoor track and field.

Aiding Gray as a volunteer coach will be Darrell Smith, Jr., who specializes in the women's and men's high hurdles and 400m hurdles. Smith's uncle, John Smith, as a 400m runner, helped lead the Bruins to two NCAA team championships (1971, 1972) and, as the head coach of HSI, an elite track & field training group, produced some of the nation's top sprinters, including Greene. Smith worked with his uncle at HSI from 1996-2002, and from 2000-04 he was the sprint coach for the Saudi Arabia national team. At the 2000 Olympics, Smith coached Hadi Al-Somayli to Saudi Arabia's first-ever Olympic medal, a silver in the 400m hurdles. At the 2008 Olympics, Smith coached Tasha Danvers to a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles.

Full-time assistant coach Forest Braden begins his fourth season with the Bruins, directing the women's and men's distance program while also serving as the UCLA head coach for women's and men's cross country. Braden was a three-time All-American distance runner at Boise State from 2002-07, running for Maynard when he was the Broncos head coach.

Working with Braden as a volunteer assistant will be Becky Paddack, a 2011 Cal Poly graduate and NCAA Regional qualifier in the 5000m. Paddack is currently enrolled in UCLA's Dental School.

UCLA's new full-time associate head coach is Jack Hoyt. With 18 years of coaching at the collegiate level, his responsibilities will include women's and men's jumps, heptathlon and overseeing the recruiting for women's and men's pole vaulters. For the last seven years Hoyt was the assistant coach of field events, decathlon and heptathlon at Cal Poly. From 1999-2005, he was the head coach for women's and men's track & field at his alma mater, Seattle Pacific University.

A volunteer assistant with Hoyt will be Sharon Day, an athlete from Cal Poly coached by Hoyt to heptathlon stardom. Initially a standout high jumper, she won the NCAA women's high jump (6-4) in 2005 and made the U. S. team for the 2008 Olympics. In 2009, Day's first year of full time heptathlon training, she made the USA World Championship Team in both the high jump and heptathlon. Her heptathlon success continued with a second-place finish at the U.S. National Championships in 2010 and the top spot on the podium in 2011. At the 2012 Olympic Games, Day was the top U.S. finisher in the heptathlon. Hoyt has been Day's coach in all seven of the heptathlon events.

Anthony Curran, entering his 30th season on the Bruin staff, will be a volunteer assistant with the pole vaulters and is the new director of UCLA track & field camps and clinics. An All-American vaulter for the Bruins from 1978-82, Curran is one of the nation's top pole vault coaches who has mentored multiple Olympians, national record holders and NCAA and conference champions during his tenure at UCLA.

"Our new staff gives us comprehensive coverage for our entire program," Maynard said. "To add world-class competitors like Maurice Greene and Sharon Day to our staff is an exceptional opportunity for our student-athletes and for the continued improvement of our total program. Jack Hoyt is continually driven to develop each of his athletes to the highest level, yet he never loses the perspective that positive relationships are the basis for this development. Chris Asher has done great things at Cal State LA and he will be a great recruiting asset for the Bruins. Darrell Smith gives us an excellence level in the hurdle events we've needed and gives us an additional advantage with his top-level coaching."

Courtesy UCLA