John Newell

Title:
Assistant Coach (Throws)
Email:
jnewell5@utk.edu
Phone:
(865) 974-4000

John Newell enters his ninth season as an assistant coach at Tennessee in 2021-22. He works directly with the program’s throwers.

THE NEWELL FILE

Coaching Experience

2007-13: Michigan State, Assistant
2013-present: Tennessee, Assistant

BY THE NUMBERS

46 NCAA All-America Honors
28 NCAA First Team All-Americans
9 SEC Individual Champions
12 Tennessee Program Records
3 Olympians

Since 2013, Newell has guided Tennessee throwers to 27 All-America honors and nine SEC titles. He has led Tennessee athletes to 16 school records in the throwing events, highlighted by six-time All-American Stamatia Scarvelis who owns the program standards in the weight throw and hammer throw.

2021 saw Latavia Maines win a pair of SEC shot put titles as she won both the indoor and outdoor conference meet. Maines' indoor title was her second straight after winning the indoor title for the first time in 2020. She also broke the indoor and outdoor shot put school records in 2021, tossing an indoor-best 17.81m (58.5.25) on February 27, 2021. On May 14, 2021, Maines threw 18.71m (61.4.75) to set the school-record for outdoor shot put.

Newell also helped guide former Lady Vol Stamatia Scarvelis to her first Olympic Games in 2021, as Scarvelis qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a member of the Greek National Team.

On the men's side, Jordan West and Georgios Korakidis both earned All-America honors - West for indoor and outdoor shot put and Korakidis for hammer.

At the 2020 SEC Indoor Championships, Tennessee struck gold in both the men's and women's shot put as Joseph Maxwell (19.83m / 65-0.25) and Latavia Maines (16.84m / 55-3) made their way to the top of the podium. It was the eighth time in SEC history that a school won both events at the indoor conference meet.

Newell guided Scarvelis to back-to-back SEC championships in the hammer throw in 2018 and 2019, as well as the conference title in the weight throw in 2019. She became the first female Tennessee athlete to earn SEC gold in either event. Her mark of 24.06m (78-11.25) in the women’s weight throw went down as a conference meet record and the No. 3 mark in SEC history.

Tavis Bailey posted back-to-back top-3 NCAA finishes under Newell’s guidance, placing third in 2014 and second in 2015. Bailey went on to represent Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Newell joined him as an assistant coach for the national team.

Cameron Brown stood out for Newell with back-to-back SEC weight throw titles in 2015 and 2016. His mark of 23.54m (77-2.75) earned third place at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships and still stands as a program record to this day.

Other notable throwing standouts during Newell’s tenure on Rocky Top include outdoor school record holders Jordan West (shot put, 20.33m / 66-8.5) and Georgios Korakidis (hammer, 68.70m / 225-4) and four-time All-American Cassie Wertman.

Prior to Tennessee, Newell served six seasons as an assistant coach for the track and field program at Michigan State. In his time with the Spartans, Newell had 24 NCAA championship qualifiers, 18 All-America honors and 46 regional event qualifiers. His athletes won nine Big Ten championships and recorded eight school records.

In 2011, Newell was named the Great Lakes Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year.

Newell graduated from Georgia in 2005 with a degree in sociology. During his collegiate career with the Bulldogs, he was a six-time NCAA qualifier and earned All-America honors in the shot put at the 2005 indoor championships.