With program turnaround, USF track coach eyeing larger success

TAMPA, Fla. — It’s been a big year athletically at the University of South Florida.

The football team and men’s basketball team saw turnarounds under new coaches and the department continues strides towards its new on-campus stadium.

But perhaps the biggest improvement came from the track and field teams, which are sending 12 athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships this week in Eugene, Oregon.

Head Coach Erik Jenkins is the man behind the turnaround.

“I had no illusions of us winning as soon as I got here,” Jenkins said. “Because I know how hard it is to build a program.”

Just five years after arriving in Tampa, Jenkins, a Quincy, Florida native, is preparing to send a school record 12 athletes to this week’s NCAA Championships.

“I think we can be a conference contender on a consistent basis,” he said. “And I think that we want to be a program that consistently makes noise in the NCAA Championships and beyond.”

After a standout track career at Western Kentucky, Jenkins, 47, went on to coach at his alma mater for 11 seasons. He won 30 conference championships there before coming to Tampa. He said the move was motivated by having all the right ingredients needed to build something special.

“Being able to train at a higher level year round and having the resources we have here, I felt that we could build something,” Jenkins said. “And I think that we could have something that we could continue to build upon and have sustained success for a long time.”

USF track had never won a conference championship, men or women, before this year. The men won their first taking both the American Athletic Conference indoor and outdoor championships with the women placing a program best third in both.

The men and women’s teams have produced 35 school records under Jenkins watch, including 30 in the last two seasons alone.

We’re just starting to figure out who we are,” he said. “We want to be good for a long time and build South Florida into a program that will be respected for a long time to come.”