University of Tennessee Athletics
Layne Anderson Added to Tennessee Track Staff
August 01, 2016 | Track & Field
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee director of track & field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan has announced the hire of Layne Anderson as the assistant coach for distance and recruiting coordinator for the track and field team.
"Layne Anderson joins us from the University of Iowa, we are very excited to have him join our program as an assistant coach working with the distance runners and as our recruiting coordinator," Sullivan said. "We're thrilled to add him in this position to help continue the momentum that we have to the top of podiums. He brings a great work ethic, an extremely good skill set in recruiting and administration. He will be a great asset in all that we are trying to do as we build this program."
Anderson joins the Vols from the University of Iowa where he served in the same position. Anderson has been with Iowa since 2003 and served in many roles as an assistant women's track coach (2003-07), head coach for the women's cross country team (2003-11), head coach of the women's track and field team (2008-12) before moving into his current role as head coach for cross country and the distance coach for the track and field team.
During Anderson's tenure with the Iowa women's cross country team, the Hawkeyes have crowned six All-Americans, three NCAA Midwest Regional champions, one Big Ten champion and 17 all-region honorees.
"I would like to thank Dave Hart, Donna Thomas, and Coach Alford-Sullivan for the opportunity to be a part of the Volunteer track & Field\Cross Country staff," said Anderson. "The results achieved the past two years illustrate the impact of Coach Alford-Sullivan’s leadership and the collective efforts of an incredible coaching staff. My family and I are excited to be a part of the Knoxville community and eager to begin this next chapter in our lives."
The Iowa cross country team has also had success in the classroom earning USTFCCCA all-academic honors 11 times under Anderson. Since 2003, the Hawkeyes have received 57 Academic All-Big Ten honors, including a school-record nine honorees in 2011.
Anderson served as the head women's track and field coach from 2009-11 before being named head coach of the combined program in 2012. He served as interim head coach in 2008 after the passing of former Hawkeye Head Coach James Grant. Under Anderson's direction, Iowa notched 43 All-Americans, 13 Big Ten champions, 78 academic All-Big Ten honors and qualified 124 Hawkeyes for postseason competition.
As an assistant track coach for the Hawkeyes from 2003-07, Anderson had success with the middle distance and distance corps. During that time the Hawkeyes crowned three All-Americans, posted 19 national qualifiers and 13 regional qualifiers. Iowa and Tennessee were two of four schools in the nation to have NCAA indoor qualifying marks in the 800 meters, mile, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters and distance medley relay in 2004. Stanford and Kentucky were the only other schools to achieve those standards.
Anderson will work with the Tennessee distance runners during the track and field season. Chelsea Blaase will compete for the Vols during the track and field season as she looks to repeat as the SEC outdoor champion in the 10,000m and better her second place finish in the 5,000m race. She also claimed SEC Indoor Championships in the 3,000m and 5,000m races. On the men's side, Zach Long earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors for back-to-back cross country races in the fall. He became the first UT men's runner to earn two SEC weekly cross country honors in the same season.
Prior to joining the Hawkeyes, Anderson served as head men's and women's cross country coach and assistant track coach at Auburn University (1997-2002). During his tenure, he coached seven All-Americans, two SEC champions, 15 all-SEC honorees and 58 academic all-SEC performers. He also coached eight individual school record holders and four relays to school records. Anderson helped the men's team to four top-15 finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and two top-20 placings at the NCAA Indoor Championships During his tenure the women's squad posted three top-15 finishes at the national indoor meet and one at the NCAA outdoor meet. The men's highest national finish was third place in 2000, while the women's was 11th in 2002.
The Tiger cross country team produced four all-South Region performers, two NCAA individual qualifiers, four team titles, three individual titles and two SEC Athlete of the Week Award recipients under Anderson. He served as meet director for the annual Auburn Cross Country Invitational, which featured over 600 runners, and the 2000 NCAA South Regional Championships.
Before his stint at Auburn, Anderson was an assistant men's cross country and track and field coach at Texas Tech (1996-97), where he coached six Red Raiders to nine All-America honors. In 1997, the men's track and field team placed 11th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and 21st at the national indoor meet. He also coached one GTE academic all-district award recipient.
He served as the administrative assistant to the Faculty Athletics Representative at Auburn (1994-96), which included a one-year stint as administrative assistant to the Graduate Program Officer (1994-95). Anderson was a graduate teaching assistant at Auburn (1991-94) and The Citadel (1989-91). During his graduate assistantship at Auburn, he worked with 1991 World Champion and 1996 Olympic silver medallist Samuel Matete and two-time Olympian Tommy Asinga.
As an athlete, Anderson was a three-time Southern Conference individual champion and set 10 school records at The Citadel. He was named team MVP three times and was a member of a USATF national champion distance medley relay. A three-time academic all-conference selection, Anderson was named to the Dean's List four times and the Gold Stars list twice.
The son of an Army Officer, Anderson graduated from Frankfurt American High School in 1985. He was a five-time Department of Defense Schools champion in the 800 and 1,500 meters and was named Department of Defense Schools European High School Runner of the Year twice. Anderson holds two degrees from The Citadel. He earned a bachelor's (1989) and masters of education (1991), both in health and physical education. Anderson and his wife, Alexis, have two sons, Sawyer and Griffin.
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