Jeff Coover - Assistant Coach - Multi/Vertical Jumps - Track and Field Coaches

Jeff Coover

Title:
Assistant Coach - Multi/Vertical Jumps
Email:
jeffrey.coover@uni.edu
Phone:
(319) 273-5833

In the 2019-20, Jeff Coover enters his third season as a full-time coach for UNI, focusing on jumps and multievents.

During his time, athletes under Coover's tutelage have earned four MVC Championships and 18 All-Conference honors.

During the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championship, the UNI men won the title in dominating fashion. Athletes under Coover's tutelage contributed 41.25 points to the men's championship total. Austin Heitland (decathlon) and Kade Kirkpatrick (long jump) picked up first-place finishes and Cam Cantrall earned All-Conference honors in the high jump. On the women's side, Brooke Lorenz finished second in the heptathlon to earn All-Conference honors on the women's side. Owen Minshall advanced to compete at the NCAA West Region in Sacramento, California.

At the 2019 MVC indoor championship, Heitland (hep) and Kirkpatrick (LJ) earned All-Conference honors for the men while Lorenz (pent) and Maria Gonzalez (HJ) earned All-MVC marks for the Panther women.

During the 2018 season, the Panther men entered the MVC Outdoor Championship picked third, but edge second-place Illinoise State by one point for the title. Coover's athletes contributed 29 points in the championship, including All-Conference honors for Heitland (dec) and Chase Van Sant (LJ). Kassidy Sharp won the high jump and Gonzalez (HJ) and Lauren Beauchamp (PV) earned All-MVC marks for the UNI women.

In the 2018 Indoor championship, Beauchamp earned the title in the pole vault while Gonzalez (HJ), Sharp (HJ) and Lauren Frederick (pent) earned All-MVC honors.

After spending five seasons as a volunteer coach for the Panthers, Coover was elevated to a full-time assistant coach for UNI rack and field program prior to the 2017-18 season.

As a volunteer coach at UNI, Coover has coached women pole vaulters Libby Torresani and Jenna Wexter to MVC All-Conference performances in 2014-15 and 2013-14 along with seeing both athletes earn spots at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. Torresani captured both the indoor and outdoor school records in the pole vault in 2014-15 along with a conference title at the outdoor meet.

Before his time at UNI, Coover spent two years as a volunteer at his alma mater of Indiana University as he coached pole vaulters. Coover, a 2010 graduate of Indiana, was the 2009 Big Ten Champion in the vault as a Hoosier and was an All-American as well after earning fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Coover is a four-time NCAA All-American for Indiana. He is a two-time bronze medalist at the U.S. Championships and has competed at 14 U.S. Championships. His personal record in the pole vault stands at 5.68 meters (18 feet, 8 inches).

Coover, a native of La Jolla, Calif., earned a degree in environmental management from IU in 2010. Coover currently resides in Waterloo, Iowa and was married this past month to Chelsea Dixon.

He continues to compete. Between 2010 and 2018, Coover has competed in 14 USA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, finishing in the top-10 seven times. He has been ranked in the top-10 in the United States for 8 of the last 9 years. In 2016, he qualified for the Olympic Trials, where he jumped 5.50m (18') in the preliminary round to qualify for the finals. In the final he finished 9th. In 2015, Coover vaulted a personal best 5.68m (18'7.5") in the UNIDome, and finished third at the USA Indoor Championships.In 2013, Coover finished fourth at the USA Championships in Des Moines to secure a spot as an alternate on Team USA for the World Championships.