The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association started including honoring assistant coaches in 2008, in addition to honoring head coaches for their National Coach of the Year honors. Since then, Arizona State (2008) and Oregon (2016) were the only schools whose entire coaching staff won National Coach of the Year and National Assistant Coach of the Year honors.
The Arkansas Razorbacks are the latest team to be added to the list.
On Monday the USTFCCCA announced that four Razorbacks coaches took home National Coach of the Year and National Assistant Coach of the Year honors for the indoor season.
Chris Bucknam and Lance Harter won the National Men’s Coach of the Year and the National Women’s Coach of the Year, respectively. For Bucknam, he led the charge for the Razorbacks men’s team that won the indoor title. His athletes secured 18 First-Team All-American honors at the meet. Harter has won this honor three of the last five years as the women’s head coach. His team scored 64 points, which was enough to take home the indoor title.
Travis Geopfert and Chris Johnson took home the National Men’s Assistant Coach and the National Women’s Coach of the Year honors, respectively. On the men’s side, Jaydon Hibbert, who broke the collegiate record in the triple jump and Carey McLeod, who won the long jump, are some of the elite athletes that Geopfert coaches.
Johnson’s athletes achieved great things at the indoor championships, with the most notable performances coming from Britton Wilson. His athletes scored 40 of the 64 points en route to the Razorbacks indoor national title.
