University of Tennessee Athletics
Former Vol On Path To Olympics
March 26, 2012 | Men's Track
March 26, 2012
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A career-ending injury once left former Tennessee track & field standout Hassaan Stamps feeling like his Olympic dream was over. Thanks to a resilient spirit forged during his time as a Volunteer, the four-time All-American and 2003 UT graduate is about to see his Olympic vision come to fruition, albeit in a different way than he had imagined.
Stamps, a letterman from 1999 and 2002, two-time team captain (2001, 2002) and a member of Tennessee's 2001 NCAA Outdoor and 2002 NCAA Indoor national championship teams, was named national teams coach for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a little over a month ago. That title has presented him with the opportunity to coach the Saudi national teams at both the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona and 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The 2002 winner of the Will Pritchett Award, which goes to UT's most dedicated senior, Stamps was a member of four All-America and four Penn Relays champion relay teams during his collegiate career. He is a school record-holder with the 4x100m (38.66) and shuttle hurdle relays (54.73) outdoors and ranks second outdoors in the 4x400m relay (3:02.83), third indoors in the distance medley relay (9:39.61), fifth outdoors in the 400m hurdles (50.62), ninth indoors in the 4x400m relay (3:09.60) and 10th indoors in the 60m hurdles (7.88).
Currently taking a sabbatical from his assistant coaching position at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville to pursue this international experience and challenge, Stamps shared a few minutes of his time to talk about his journey from the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains to the edge of the Sahara Desert.
What is your official title and what are your responsibilities?
"I am the national teams coach for the 2012 World Junior Championship Team in Barcelona and the Olympic Team in London for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. My responsibilities are to coach the elite level athletes and develop and recruit the top junior athletes in the country in the sprints, hurdles, 800m and jumps."
What does it mean to be named to this position?
"It is a huge honor and a dream opportunity! It's been 12 years in the making, and I still pinch myself that I am here doing what I love on the highest level in my profession. I remember vividly during the fall of my sophomore year (2000) at the University of Tennessee, expressing my interest in coaching to sprint coach Vince Anderson and how to go about coaching at the college and, potentially, elite level. Vince tossed me a book called `The Theory and Methodology of Training,' written by Tudor Bompa, and like they say in the movies, `The rest is history.'"
Did you ever dream you would have an opportunity like this?
"Honestly, i did. I don't know if the story still lingers around "Tom Black Track," but a week after our runner- up performance at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Baton Rouge, La., I suffered a career ending injury after practice. After the best 400-meter hurdle practice of my life in preparation for the USA Senior Nationals, I was cooling down with Gary Kikaya. Somehow, my foot got tangled in my warm-up pants leg, and I tripped and fell on the inside metal rail with all my weight coming down on the outside of my right foot. I knew something was wrong, because when I got up I could not put any weight on my right foot. It was then you could see a boney protrusion through the side of my right shoe. I had suffered a compound fracture to my fifth metatarsal at the base of my heel, the worst place to receive such a fracture because it is a main structure for support of my right foot. Needless to say I was devastated by the news that my professional career was over before it ever got the chance to start. Through much prayer and support from the coaching staff at Tennessee and the athletic training staff, my recovery took a little more than 14 months. When I was given the official news that I would not be able to run at the highest level, I turned my anger into motivation and told myself that day, `since I can't run and compete in the Olympics, I want to coach an athlete to the Olympics or coach in the Olympics by 2012 or 2016.' I remember telling Coach Anderson that, and the fact that it somehow came to pass is nothing short of amazing. I want to thank God, my family, the UT coaching staff then (Bill Webb, George Watts and Vince Anderson) my closest friends and the countless mentors that gave me their time to teach me all the things I needed to learn about the sport of track and field."
How did this all come about?
"The Director of the Senior Team is Eric Campbell. He most recently was the head track and field coach at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He and I came up through Quicksilver Track Club based in Atlanta, Ga., and he has always kept up with my progress and success at the collegiate level, and he felt I would be a great fit for the federation. After going through a very lengthy interview process, the president of the Saudi Arabia Federation, Prince Nawaf Bin Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al, agreed that he wanted to bring me into to the federation as a national teams coach."
When did you begin your stint with the national team and how long will you be with the national team?
"I came over to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the 12th of February, and I will be here through the Olympics."
How is this going to benefit you when you return to collegiate coaching?
"I think it will help me refine my coaching eye. I am also excited about the opportunity to learn some new training theories, as I am a firm believer that when you stop learning you need to do something else. Education and the application of said information is the real difference between elite level coaches and non-elite level coaches. I also plan to strengthen my recruiting contacts on the international level. Recruiting is the life blood of collegiate athletics, and every university I have had the pleasure to work for, recruiting is an area in which I have always excelled. This opportunity will just be another way to strengthen those lines and create new contacts. The most amazing thing I have witnessed since I have been here is that track and field is a universal language. Even though there is a significant language gap, I am picking up Arabic as well as can be expected, but it is very difficult. When we are at practice I can demonstrate or explain with pictures and use YouTube videos of what I want exactly, and they understand just fine what it is I want or need. I use the Samsung Galaxy Tablet, and those things are the wave of the future!!!! Like my American Express card. `I can't leave home without it.'"
Explain how SIUE took this news and what kind of support they have offered?
"The Athletic Director, Dr. Hewitt, is a class act! He is a very dynamic and passionate leader for the athletic department at SIUE. He was very excited for me and really made it possible for me to take this opportunity full on, even though I was not going to be able to be with my team during the outdoor track and field season. The SIUE track and field staff has supported me as well and is very happy and proud that I have the opportunity to represent them at the international level. I am almost finished finalizing my blog and my website, so you will be able to keep up with all my adventures. The great thing about technology is that it is actually making the world a smaller place. I have been able to be at most of my athletes' practices because of video messaging services like Skype and ooVoo. The athletes in my event group have been nothing short of amazing, and they have supported this opportunity since day one. So I want to send a very special thank you to my event group, Jatavia Wright, Michelle Higgins, Jasmine Johnson, Jasmine Ranson, Tekiah Banks, Rickie Walls, Thayer Harrison and La'derrick Ward, for being selfless enough to share their coach during a portion of their season. Without you guys, I'm nothing. Thank you!"
What are your expectations for your team?
"Our expectations are to get team members qualified to the World Junior Championships in Barcelona and to the Olympic Games in London. Period! Anything less in our minds would be a failure! The talent level is here. We just have to continue to implement our system to the senior athletes and develop the junior athletes with a winning mindset supported by education of their specific event area and becoming a student of their event. If we can do that, I really think the sky is the limit for athletes in this region of the world. Their facilities are amazing, the training weather is optimal until the spring, because it can get as hot as 115 degrees, but then when it gets too hot the federation will just move training to a part of the world that is milder. With support like that, it's not `if' but `when,' as I sit here and visualize the future of the federation and the athletes inside. Another upside is that track and field, or `athletics' as it is known here, is the number two sport in this region behind only football (soccer). So, the talent that we stumble upon as we look for new juniors we don't have to fight between American football, baseball or basketball, so that is really nice for a change."
How did your experience as a college athlete at Tennessee help prepare you for this moment?
"Tennessee, besides teaching me how to be a man, taught me how to WIN. I am not talking about winning on the track between 48-inch lanes, a runway or in the ring. I am talking about winning in the game of life. To be the best, you have to be willing to outwork your opponent. To beat the best, you have to realize exactly what you are, even if you are not where you want to be just yet. To be a national champion, you first have to say it. Second, you have to put in the work to achieve it. Third, when you get knocked down or miss the mark you don't give up. You go back to the drawing board until you get it right. Then when all else fails, you send your athletes on warm-up laps around Stokely Athletics Center or you walk them along to each picture on the wall...Darwin Bonds, Mark Patrick, David Patrick, George Watts, Sam Graddy, Willie Gault, John Tillman, Richmond Flowers, Randy Jenkins, Todd Williams, Tony `José' Parrilla, Dwane Wallace, Lawrence Johnson, Aaron Ausmus, Tim Mack, Tom Pappas, Anthony Famiglietti, Leonard Scott, Rocky Danners, Karl Jennings, Camron Howard, Justin Gatlin, Aries Merritt and you look them (the athletes) square in the eyes so each individual gets that understanding that you can't even begin to have an idea of where you are going if you do not know and respect where you have been. I am here to tell you with all the changes I have experienced since my time on The Hill, the one constant in my life has been success no matter the game or surface played. I owe that all to the University of Tennessee and my mother, Gail-Baker Stamps, my number one fan in the whole entire world. She has this key chain that I swear she has had since I can remember and it says `You have come a long way, baby,' and now with joy in my spirit and humility in my heart, I feel like I have arrived. Look mama, I did it!"
