INDIANAPOLIS – University of Miami women’s head coach Amy Deem and University of Maryland head coach Andrew Valmon have been nominated to serve as the women’s and men’s head coaches, respectively, for Team USA’s track and field squads for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, USA Track & Field announced on Thursday. Diane Wholey and Ken Brauman are nominated as head managers. All Olympic Team staff selections are pending final approval of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Chief Executive Officer.
Team USA
USATF also announced the coaching staff for the 2011 Pan American Games team that will be led by men’s head coach Cliff Rovelto and women’s head coach Angie Taylor.
Assistant coaches nominated to the Olympic women’s coaching staff are Tonja Buford Bailey, Rose Monday, Gwen Wentland and Connie Price-Smith. Men’s staff nominees are Mike Holloway, Jack Hazen, Edrick Floreal and Tom Pukstys. Medical and other additional officials will be announced at a later date.
Deem, Valmon and the Team USA staff will guide the World’s #1 Track & Field Team at the Olympic Games in London. In Olympic competition, Team USA track and field athletes have won 315 gold medals and 744 medals overall, by far the most won in any sport by any country. In 2008, track athletes won seven gold and 23 medals overall.
Deem to lead Team USA women’s squad
University of Miami head women’s track and field coach Amy Deem has built the school’s women’s track program from modest beginnings into one of the nation’s elite.
Before her arrival in Miami 20 years ago, the Hurricanes had never had an athlete record an NCAA qualifying mark. Deem has guided 42 student-athletes to a combined 147 All-America honors and 12 individual National Championships, including 2009 NCAA Indoor 200-meter Champion Murielle Ahoure, 2008 NCAA Indoor 400-meter Champion Krista Simkins, 2006 NCAA Outdoor triple jump Champion Tabia Charles, 2005 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor shot put champion Kim Barrett and 2004 NCAA 100-meter Champion Lauryn Williams. The Hurricanes have boasted at least one All-American in each of the last 19 seasons and have claimed seven Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in two conferences.
Deem, who was the head women’s coach for Team USA at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships in Osaka, Japan, served three seasons (1998-2000) as the Event Coordinator for Sprints and Hurdles for the USA Track and Field Coaches Education Program, and in 2001 served as head coach of the USA Junior National team that competed in England and Scotland. In the summer of 2003 Deem served as the Explosive Events Coach (sprints and hurdles) for the United States at the Pan American games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic guiding Lauryn Williams to the gold medal in the 100-meters. In addition, the United States swept the gold medals in the 4×100-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay for the first time since 1987.
Valmon to lead Team USA’s men’s squad
Andrew Valmon arrived at the University of Maryland as the school’s head coach in 2003 after serving on the track and field staff at Georgetown University since 1995, where he was the men’s head coach for four seasons.
During his track career Valmon earned gold medals as a member of the United States 4×400 relay teams at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games. He was on 13 U.S. National Teams, earning gold medals at the 1990 Goodwill Games, the 1993 World Championships and the 1994 Goodwill Games. He owns a personal-best of 44.28 in his specialty, the 400-meter dash
Valmon has served as a Team USA assistant coach at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, Germany, and as the head coach for the 2010 World Indoor Championships team in Doha, Qatar. Prior to coaching at the World Championship level, Valmon was relay coach for Team USA at the 2008 NACAC Championships in El Salvador. In 2002, Valmon was awarded the President’s Award by USATF for his contributions to both USATF and to the sport of track and field. He has also served as a member of USATF’s Athletes Advisory Committee.
Wholey, Brauman to serve as head managers
Diane Wholey – Women’s Head Manager: Now in her 12th year as a member of the Texas Tech coaching staff, Wholey is now an assistant athletic director for the program after transitioning from coaching the men’s and women’s high jump, javelin and combined events. Her previous coaching stops include the University of Texas, the University of Mississippi and at the University of Tennessee.
Wholey was the assistant throws coach for Team USA at the 2005 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and was the women’s head coach of the 2004 World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She was head coach at the 2004 USA vs. Germany vs. France Team Challenge held in Munich, Germany, and her vast international experience also includes being head manager for Team USA at the 2002 NACAC Under-23 Championships, the 2007 World Outdoor Championships and the 2010 World Indoor Championships.
Ken Brauman – Men’s Head Manager: Brauman has served as the head track coach at Seminole High School in Sanford, Fla., since 1983. He was named Florida Track Coach of the Year 10 times, has coached 57 High School All-Americans and was named the 1997 National High School Track and Field Coach of the Year. A member of the Florida Track and Field Hall of Fame, he is an inductee of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
A USA Track & Field Certified Level 1 Coaching Instructor, Brauman has served as the head manager on two U.S. World Junior Championship team staffs and has been an assistant coach on six U.S. international team staffs, including the 1997 World Indoor Championships in Paris, France, and the 2001 World Outdoor Championships in Edmonton, Canada. He recently served as the men’s head manager at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships in Berlin.
Women’s staff assistant coaches
Tonja Buford-Bailey – Sprints/Hurdles: A 1993 graduate of the University of Illinois, Buford-Bailey became the head women’s track and field coach at her alma mater in 2008 after serving as an assistant since 2004. She was a three-time Olympian, earning a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta to become the first female Illini athlete to win an Olympic medal. She also made the Olympic teams in 1992 and 2000. Buford-Bailey was the first woman in history to break the 53-second mark in the 400m hurdles, doing so twice. She closed out the 1995 season ranked second in the world and her mark of 52.62 seconds in the 400m hurdles still remains fourth on the all-time world list.
Buford-Bailey served as the women’s sprints/hurdles coach at the 2009 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Berlin, Germany. She coached the female sprinters and hurdlers at the 2007 Pan American Junior meet, with her event-group athletes winning nine of Team USA’s 23 total medals.
Rose Monday – Endurance: Monday, who most recently coached at the University of Texas-San Antonio, is nationally known as one of the top minds in middle distance and distance running. In 2003 she was appointed USATF Development chair for women’s distance events. She was an assistant coach for the U.S. team at the 2005 World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, and served as head women’s coach for Team USA at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, China.
A member of three national championship relay teams at Cal State Northridge, Monday was the 1985 national indoor champion in the 800m, was ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. in the 800 from 1983-92 and competed in four Olympic Trials. She was also ranked in the 1,500 for four years.
Gwen Wentland – Jumps/Combined Events: A two-time USA Indoor high jump champion, a four-time competitor at the U.S. Olympic Trials and a four-time All-American as an athlete at Kansas State University, Wentland later continued to compete while serving as an Administrative Assistant and Assistant Coach at her alma mater. In 2000 she accepted a position at the University of California-Irvine as the school’s jumps coach.
Wentland has been actively involved with USA Track and Field since 1994, serving the organization as the U.S. Vertical Jumps Event Leader and as a member of USATF’s Women’s Development Committee. Most recently she served as the Assistant Coach (jumps/multis) for the U.S. Team at the 2010 World Indoor Championships. She has bee an athlete’s liaison officer for Team USA at the 1997 World Outdoor Championships, and at the 2001 World Youth Championships. Wentland also was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Jamaica.
Connie Price-Smith – Throws: A four-time Olympian recognized as one of America’s best combination shot put/discus throwers in history, Connie Price-Smith is in her ninth year as a coach at her collegiate alma mater, Southern Illinois University. The 2009-10 season marked her sixth as the director of track and field/cross country, and head coach for both the men’s and women’s combined track and field program. She spent her first three years as head coach for the Saluki women’s team. Last season, seven SUI athletes earned NCAA All-American honors. Jeneva McCall won the national championship in the discus, and the women’s team finished the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in ninth place. Price-Smith was named MVC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career.
A 25-time national champion in the shot put and discus, and a member of 34 international U.S. squads as an athlete, Price-Smith has also served on Team USA coaching staffs and will lead the Team USA women’s squad as head coach at the 2011 World Outdoor Championships in Daegu, Korea. She was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, and also served in that capacity at the 2005 World Indoor Championships and with the U.S. 2006 World Cup Team in Athens, Greece. Price-Smith was Team USA’s head coach at the 2007 Pan Am Games and was an assistant coach at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Men’s staff assistant coaches
Mike Holloway – Sprints/Hurdles: Holloway is in his ninth season as head track and field coach at the University of Florida and 12th season on the Gators’ staff. In his first four seasons as head coach he’s amassed seven individual and relay NCAA titles, four runner-up finishes at NCAA Championships and two NCAA East Regional titles. In 2010, Holloway’s Florida men’s team won the school’s first ever NCAA Indoor team title and he was named the 2010 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Men’s Head Coach of the Year.
Internationally, Holloway was head coach for Team USA at the 2004 NACAC U-23 Championships, where American athletes won 27 of 40 events contested. Among the athletes he coaches is two-time outdoor Visa Champion Kerron Clement. Holloway also served as Team USA men’s sprints/hurdles coach at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships in Osaka, Japan.
Jack Hazen – Distance Running: Jack Hazen has been head coach of men’s cross country at Malone University for 43 years and as women’s cross country head coach for 18 years. His men’s program still ranks as the all-time winningest program as ranked by the NAIA.
Hazen’s men’s squad has qualified for the NAIA national meet every year, having never lost a conference/district meet in the program’s history. In addition, his men’s team has 36 top-ten NAIA national finishes. Hazen has also coached men’s track & field for 31 years and women’s for 18 years. He has coached over 325 NAIA All-Americans in cross country and track & field, which represents over 80% of the All-Americans in all of Malone athletics history. During Hazen’s time as head coach, the Malone men’s track & field program also helped develop 2004 Olympic gold medalist pole vaulter Tim Mack.
Hazen was head manager for the 1999 U.S. Junior Pan American team and was twice named as U.S. coach for men’s cross country at the World Championships, in Boston and Capetown, South Africa. He was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2005 World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
Edrick Floreal – Jumps: Floreal was named Director of Track & Field at Stanford during the fall of 2005. This year is his 14th season overall with the Stanford program. Since his arrival at Stanford in 1998, Flroeal has been a 4-time MPSF coach of the year, the 2009 West Regional Indoor Coach of the Year and the 2006 West Regional Outdoor Coach of the Year. Under his watch, 52 Stanford athletes have earned 126 All-America honors.
A two-time Olympian who competed for Canada in 1988 and 1992, Floreal served as assistant coach for Team USA at the 2002 IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships, which featured the world record-setting men’s 4×100-meter relay team, the first team to run under 39 seconds.
Tom Pukstys – Throws: The 1992 Olympic Trials men’s javelin champion and a six-time USA Outdoor champion in that event, Pukstys was an Olympic Games finalist in 1992 and 1996. A former American record holder in the javelin, Pukstys also competed at the World Outdoor Championships on six occasions, with his best finish coming in 1993 when he finished ninth.
A former assistant coach at Brown University, Pukstys is a personal coach that primarily works with athletes and their coaches on strength and conditioning as well as throws. He served as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2007 Pan American Games, and was the head coach at the USA vs. Finland match in 2005. He is a former chair of USA Track & Field’s Men’s Javelin Development.
