University of Richmond Athletics
Brandon Craven Joins Track & Field Coaching Staff
02/09/2007 | Women's Track & Field
Feb. 9, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Former NCAA All-American Brandon Craven will join the University of Richmond track & field coaching staff as an assistant coach. Craven will work with the sprints, hurdles and jumps at Richmond.
The former NCAA All-American in the triple jump was part of four national championship track & field teams at the University of Arkansas, after transferring from the University of Georgia. He had played on the football team at Georgia for two years as a wide receiver and defensive back. Craven competed in the 1996 and 2000 United States Olympic Team Trials and won a silver medal in the triple jump at the US Men's Indoor Championships in 2001. He was ranked in the top-20 triple jumpers in the world in 2002.
The Kilgore, Texas native comes to Richmond with a wealth of coaching experience, including as an assistant coach with the University of Arkansas women's track & field team, where he worked primarily with the jumpers under the direction of coach Rolando Greene. He has also coached high school and college football, and was the president and founder of By Your Faith, Inc., which developed training programs for athletes ages 10-35.
"We are excited to have Brandon Craven joining our staff," director of track & field Lori Taylor said. "Knowing what it takes to compete and win at the highest level is important for a growing team and program like ours. Our team is comprised of a lot of freshmen and sophomores and we were looking for someone that would join our staff with the knowledge, expertise, background and technical understanding of the sprints, hurdles and jumps...Someone that would push our athletes to the next level. Brandon Craven has all of the qualities we were looking for in a coach for our program. He has competed at every level in our sport as a World Class athlete and he has developed his ability to coach athletes through his work at the collegiate level.
Craven graduated from Arkansas with a degree in kinesiology. He is a NESTA Certified Personal Trainer with more than six years of experience designing speed development programs for elite athletes. Craven was a secondary coach at Independence (Kan.) Community College in 2004 and a secondary coach at Kilgore (Texas) Community College. He was also an assistant football coach at Chaparrall High School in Temecula, Calif.
"Brandon Craven has a tremendous background as an athlete and as a coach," Richmond men's track & field coach Steve Taylor said. "With his experience as an All-American athlete at the University of Arkansas, competing in two USA Olympic Team Trials and his work with the University of Arkansas women's track & field team we believe he shares our goals and vision for our Richmond program. Alumni, recruits and current athletes know that we have high expectations for our team and we believe Brandon will work hard to guide our athletes to their best and continue our pursuit to attract the top athletes to Richmond and get them to the NCAA Championships. We are happy to have him joining our staff and look forward to working with him."