Samford University Women's Cross Country

Tiffin is entering his seventh season as Head Track and Field coach and Director of Cross Country at Samford University. In his seven seasons at the helm, he has had a significant impact on the Bulldog cross country and track and field programs.      In his first year as head coach, he led his cross country teams to a second-place finish on the womens side and a fourth-place finish on the mens side in 2008. The womens team captured followed with consecutive conference championships, winning the SoCon title in 2009 and 2010.  Tiffin was named SoCon Womens Cross-Country Coach of the Year in both championship seasons.      In Samfords first appearance at the SoCon Indoor Track and Field Tournament in 2009, both Samford teams finished fourth. Tiffin also had six student-athletes earn All-SoCon honors while four garnered All-Freshman honors. Five athletes walked away with individual championships, and three set school records throughout the season.      In the 2010 outdoor season, the Bulldogs took third on the mens side and fourth on the womens side. Four student-athletes won individual events and earned All-SoCon honors while eight garnered All-Freshman honors. Four athletes qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional in five events. Four school records were broken throughout the outdoor season.      Tiffin was named SoCons Indoor Mens Co-Coach of the Year in 2010 alongside Western Carolinas Danny Williamson. He also coached the 2010 SoCon Indoor Championships Most Outstanding Performer, Cameron Bean.      Also in 2010, the Bulldogs set 11 indoor records, five at the SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championship. Samford won four events, and earned seven All-Freshman honors and 10 All-SoCon honors. The Bulldogs also set 12 school records in the outdoor season, earning 10 All-SoCon honors and nine All-Freshman honors, and won six individual events.      In 2010, Tiffin took his first Samford athlete to the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. Under Tiffins direction, Samford pole vaulter Michael Seaman, a first-year transfer from the University of Tennessee, became the first male athlete from Samford to qualify for the NCAA Championships. He finished 16th in the event at the championships after breaking the school record twice earlier in the season.      In 2011, Tiffin helped coach Michael Seaman to his second-consecutive NCAA Championship appearance, where he earned second team All-America honors in the pole vault.  The Bulldogs also qualified seven athletes to the NCAA East Regoinal, the largest group in school history.  For his outstanding season, Tiffin was named the 2011 SoCon Outdoor Mens Track and Field Coach of the Year. Both the mens and womens track and field programs captured the SoCon Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2014 under the guidance of Tiffin. The Bulldogs sent eight student-athletes to Jacksonville, Florida for the NCAA Regional Preliminaries and one to the NCAA Championships. Adam Jones represented Samford in the mens 1,500 meters at the NCAA Championships  bwhere he earned All-American honerable mention.      Tiffin also coached Patrick Wells, a transfer from the University of Alabama, to back-to-back Southern Conference Outdoor pole vault championships. Michael Seaman made return trips to the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships in 2012, where he finished sixth and 17th, respectively.  Combined, the men's and women's teams crowned seven indoor conference champions and five outdoor.  At the indoor meet, Bo Ackerson Gilroy was named the Men's Most Outstanding Athlete and Most Outstanding Field Performer.  Outdoors, Emily Allen was named the Women's Most Valuable Field Performer while Bob Elliot II was the Men's Freshman of the Year.  The Bulldogs also qualified an impressive total of five athletes to the NCAA East Regional during the 2012 outdoor season.      Tiffin coached previously at the University of Alabama. His primary responsi­bilities included long, triple and high jumpers, multi-event athletes, and throwers.      While working with Alabama Head Coach Harvey Glance, Tiffins field event crew amassed 17 school records, 20 All-American honors, eight Southeastern Conference Championships, three NCAA titles, a gold medal at the World University Games, two Olympic team berths and two World Championship berths.      During the 2001 season, Miguel Pate was Tiffins prized athlete at Alabama. Pate earned two All-American honors and won the gold medal at the 2001 World University Games. In 2002 at the USATF Indoor Championships in New York, Pate won the long jump on his ­second jump with a mark of 28'02.25", setting a collegiate record.      Pate went on to win the 2002 NCAA indoor long jump championship. After his exceptional collegiate career, Pate claimed three U.S. titles and a bronze medal in the long jump at the 2003 Indoor World Championships under Tiffins guidance.      Tiffin also trained Savante Stringfellow when he won a gold medal in the long jump at the 2003 Indoor World Championships. Tiffin has coached All-Americans in ­several field events, including javelin, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, weight throw and decathlon. He has worked with three NCAA Champions: Pate, decathlete Victor Houston and pole vaulter Clark Humphreys. He also coached two World Championship athletes, two Olympians and an Olympic Festival team member.      Before his stint at Alabama, Tiffin coached the highly successful field event crew at Auburn University. Before that, he served one year as the head track-and-field and cross-country coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he had been an assistant coach the two previous years. While at UAB, he coached 33 Great Midwest Conference individual ­champions and five All-Americans. He was named conference Coach of the Year during the indoor and outdoor track seasons, and track teams won the conference titles both seasons.      One of Tiffins first All-Americans at UAB was Vonetta Jeffery. Jeffery set 11 school and conference records and was an All- American in the 100-meter dash as well as a two-time All-American in the 200 meters and the long jump. In 1995, Jeffery was crowned the long jump champion at the United States Olympic Festival. She is a member of the United States bobsled team and was the first black female to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.      Tiffin set a few records of his own as an All-SEC standout decathlete for Auburn. He was ranked fourth on Auburns all-time list when he scored 3,590 points in the pentathlon. He previously held the ­seventh-best javelin mark in school history. Tiffin also played two years of basketball at Snead State Community College before ­transferring to Auburn University.      Tiffin received his ­bachelors degree in economics from Auburn in 1990.      A native of Scottsboro, Ala., Tiffin was a three-sport star at Scottsboro High School. He was named to Scottsboros first-team football roster.      Tiffin is married to the former Beth Groom of Birmingham. They have a son, Connor, and a daughter, Harper.

Clyburn enters his third year as assistant coach with the Samford track and field program. Clyburn comes to SU after serving as a track and field coach at Spain Park High School in 2011-2013. Since the addition of Clyburn to the track & field staff the Bulldogs have produced one All-American Honorable Mention in high jumper Keyth Fightmaster who garnered the accolade at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships, nine SoCon Champions and have broken six school records in the jumps category under his tuteledge. The Pelham, Alabama native began his collegiate track and field career at the University of Southern Mississippi where he picked up his first varsity letter and a spot on the 2005 All-Conference USA All-Academic team. In 2006 Clyburn left to compete for the University of Alabama to finish out his career. In his first season with UA, Clyburn earned a spot on the 2006 Indoor All-SEC Track and Field team. The talented heptathlon athlete finished his career as the second-best heptathlete to compete at UA. Clyburn was a varsity letter winner for Alabama from 2006-2009 and a member of the All-SEC Academic team during that span as well. Clyburn graduated in 2009 with a bachelors in philosophy from the University of Alabama and received his masters degree in secondary education in 2013 here at Samford University. He is also NCSF certified personal trainer