The Tennessee Volunteers men's track and field program represents the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

in the sport of

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. The indoor and outdoor programs compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC). The Vols host their home outdoor meets at the newly renovated

Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium is home to the University of Tennessee Volunteers men's and women's outdoor track and field teams. It is located in the heart of the university's campus in Knoxville, Tennessee. History Known commonly as Tom ...

, located on the university's

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

campus. Their rich tradition of success features 4 national titles, 7 finishes as national runner-ups, 62 NCAA individual champions, numerous All-Americans, 25 Olympians, 43 SEC championships (a conference-leading 25 outdoor wins), and 108 combined scoring appearances in the NCAA

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

and outdoor championships.

History

The Tennessee Volunteers men's track and field program began in 1901 and first started intercollegiate competition in 1909 when the SIAA was formed. Records before the 1921 season were not kept, and are therefore incomplete. The Vols did not compete in the 1918 and 1919 seasons due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The team later joined the

in 1933 where they have competed for the past 75 years. The sport was also kept on hold from 1943–1946 because of World War II and would later resume outdoor meets in 1947 and indoor meets in 1960. Since the formation of the SEC the Tennessee Volunteers have been a consistent force in competition winning a combined 43 SEC titles, 3 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and 1 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship. Several coaches are responsible for the historical success of the UT track & field program. Chuck Rohe finished with a record of 87–10 (.896) and won an astonishing 15 consecutive SEC titles.

Stan Huntsman Stanley Houser Huntsman (March 20, 1932 – November 23, 2016) was an American track and field (athletics) coach. He was a men's assistant coach during the 1976 Summer Olympics and the men's head coach of the American team of the 1988 Summer Olymp ...

took over the program in 1971 and would continue the success started by Rohe. During his tenure he led the Vols to a record of 93-26-3 (.775), 20 SEC titles and won the program's first NCAA title. In 1986 Doug Brown became the 4th coach for the Vols track & field team and finished with a 53–8 (.869) record and won 4 SEC titles and 1 NCAA title. Bill Webb took the program over following the 1995 season and would finish with a 52–1 (.981) record and an unprecedented 4 SEC titles and 2 NCAA titles, becoming the first coach to win multiple national titles at Tennessee.

Christian Coleman Christian Coleman (born March 6, 1996) is an American professional track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the former world champion in the 100 meters. He was a double gold medallist at th ...

became the first Vol to win

The Bowerman The Bowerman is an annual track and field award that is the highest accolade given to the year's best student-athlete in American collegiate track and field. It is named after Oregon track and field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman and is ...

, an award that honors collegiate track & field's most outstanding athlete of the year. In 2017, Coleman swept NCAA titles in the 60 meters indoors and 100 meters outdoors, setting collegiate records in both.

Coaching staff

It was released on May 21, 2014, that Coach JJ Clark would not be retained as Director of Track and Field/Cross Country. Penn State's Beth Alford-Sullivan was hired as UT head coach in June 2014. As of 2022, the coaching positions are as follows: Director of Track & Field/Cross Country: Beth Alford-Sullivan, Jumps: Nick Newman, Sprints/Hurdles/Relays: Ken Harden, Sprints/Hurdles/Relays: David Neville, Throws: John Newell, Distance/Recruiting Coordinator: Austin Whitelaw, and Volunteer Pole Vault: Jim "Jimbo" Sullivan.

Head coaches

Source

Yearly Record

Source Note: The 2020 season was canceled after the SEC Indoor Championships due to the

Coronavirus Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

, the SEC Outdoor and both NCAA Championships were not held. ^Chuck Rohe coached the 1971 team through the indoor season, while

took over the program for the outdoor championships.

NCAA Individual Event Champions

The Vols have claimed 26 NCAA Indoor individual championships and 36 NCAA Outdoor individual champions all-time.

Conference Individual Event Champions

Tennessee Vol athletes have won a total of 174 SEC Indoor individual titles, and 226 SEC Outdoor individual crowns through the end of the 2022 season.

Tennessee Volunteer Olympians

Through the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, 25 Tennessee athletes have represented 6 different nations at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, winning a total of 4 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze medals.

Medalists

Participants

^Did not compete due to boycott.

References

External links

University of Tennessee Athletics - Official Athletics Website
– Tennessee Volunteers sports news from ''The Knoxville News Sentinel''.

– Official webpage of the Tennessee Volunteers track and field teams. {{Footer The Bowerman