Devin West Joins Miami Track Coaching Staff
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami director of track and field and cross country Amy Deem announced the addition of Devin West to her coaching staff.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Devin to the Hurricane Family,” Deem said. “He is a tenacious recruiter and has great people skills which will allow us to continue to grow our men’s program and move our women’s program back into the national ranks.”
West will coach the men’s sprinters and hurdlers at Miami, as well as take a lead role in recruiting. He joins the Hurricanes after spending the previous season coaching sprints, hurdles and relays at Florida State. Prior to his time at FSU, West was an assistant coach at Air Force, where he had oversight of the Falcons’ sprinters and hurdlers.
“I’m excited and I’m ecstatic,” West said. “This is a dream come true for me. I have kind of gone up the coaching ranks through different programs and this is another step towards where I want to go with my career. I am fortunate that Coach Deem saw what I did at Florida State and thought that I would be a great candidate for this position. I can’t wait to build something special here.”
The 33-year-old has been successful at all of his coaching stops. This past season at Florida State, West helped guide sprinters Dentarius Locke and James Harris, as well as the Seminoles 4x100m relay team, to All-American status. Now he looks forward to building Miami’s men’s team into one of the top programs in the country.
“The opportunity to build something here was really attractive,” West said. “At Florida State, things are already established. It’s a great program and I learned so much from the coaching staff there. I am forever grateful for that, but the opportunity to build something and use the knowledge that I gained in the past here was something that was very attractive. The women’s program here is very established, but the men’s program is on its way up and I wanted to be a part of it.”
At Air Force, West’s indoor 4×400-meter relay team captured the first Mountain West Conference championship in program history. He also developed Bryce Bergman who delivered the squad’s first conference championship in the 400-meter hurdles, a spot in the first round of the NCAA Championships and an appearance in the 2011 USATF National Championships.
Two Falcon relay teams and two individual athletes earned all-conference honors, while Anthony Delgado earned All-America honors as the sprinter on the Air Force record-setting distance medley relay team. On the women’s side, two of West’s athletes broke the Air Force school mark in the 400-meter hurdles a combined four times.
West also has experience outside the collegiate ranks, coaching a 2010 IAAF World Junior Championship qualifier in the men’s 110-meter hurdle and a 2009 USATF Junior National qualifier in the 100-meter dash.
In addition to stints at Florida State and Air Force, West spent three seasons at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, where he was instrumental in guiding the Owls to four Atlantic Sun Conference championships. He got his start in track coaching as an assistant at Norcross High School in Georgia, where he directed nine state meet finalists and 13 state meet qualifiers.
A USATF Level I certified coach, West graduated from Kennesaw State in 2010 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies.
A native of Berkeley, Calif., West played football and ran track at Saint Mary’s College High School, where he was a two-time all-county and all-region sprinter. West competed in the 100, 200 and 400-meter events and was a three-time California state track & field championship participant.
After high school, West attended Saint Mary’s College, before transferring to Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he was a member of the track & field and football teams.
“Devin brings tremendous enthusiasm to the staff and team and I am looking forward to working with him,” Deem said.
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