PROVO, Utah- BYU head track and field coach Ed Eyestone announced the hiring of Kyle Grossarth and Stephani Perkins as assistant coaches. With the hirings, Eyestone has completed his coaching staff heading into the upcoming season.
Eyestone's staff also includes three coaches previously announced. Mark Robison will serve as associate head coach, while Niklas Arrhenius will serve as an assistant coach, and Patrick Shane will serve as an assistant coach and the head women's cross country coach. Coach Eyestone will keep his responsibility as the head men's cross country coach and Doug Padilla will continue in his role as the team’s director of operations.
Grossarth has a history with BYU track as an athlete from 1996-2000 and volunteer coach from 2000-2007. He most recently was an assistant strength and conditioning coach in the BYU athletic department.
“In the years that Kyle was a volunteer coach with us, our sprinters and hurdlers were dominant,” Eyestone said. “He consistently qualified his athletes to regional and national meets. We are please to have him now as a full-time coach.”
As an athlete, Grossarth was a two-time Mountain West Conference champion in the 400 hurdles and currently holds the fourth-fastest time in BYU history in the event. He competed in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials and the 2002 U.S. Track & Field Championships.
In his time as a volunteer assistant, he coached four all-Americans, including 2006 Junior National and World Champion Chris Carter in the 400 hurdles. He also coached his now-wife Jennifer Rockwell Grossarth to three Olympic Trials and multiple World Championship appearances.
“I'm really excited to be back working with the BYU track and field Program,” Grossarth said. “BYU track and field has a great tradition and history in the sprints and hurdles, and I hope that I can help to continue that.”
Grossarth is originally from Avondale, Ariz., and is married to Jennifer Rockwell Grossarth. The couple has two daughters.
Stephani Perkins comes to BYU from Ranchview High School in Irving, Texas, where she had been the head men’s and women’s cross country coach as well as the head women’s track coach since 2008 and taught chemistry, biology and physics. Perkins won multiple coach of the year honors in her time at Ranchview and coached several national finalists in hurdles and jumps. She coached an athlete that competed in the U.S. Junior World Games this summer. Perkins is the head coach and founder of the Irving Elite track club. Before coaching at Ranchview, she coached at Overland High School in Aurora, Colo., for three years.
“Stephani Perkins is one of the great young coaches in the country,” Eyestone said. “She took a struggling high school program and turned it around to a state contending team. She has a passion for the sport that will serve our men’s and women’s team immensely.”
As an athlete, Perkins won multiple state championships in sprints and hurdles in high school and competed for four years at Oklahoma State University. She also competed at the 2008 AT&T US Indoor National Track & Field Championships in hurdles.
“Coach Eyestone was a big part of my decision to come here. He shares my passion for the athlete as a person,” Perkins said. “With the new coaching changes and the energy of Coach Eyestone, I think there are going to be big things happening at BYU.”
Perkins is originally from Aurora, Colo., and is married to DeShawn Perkins.
The hiring of these assistant coaches completes the coaching transition after the announcement that the men’s and women’s track teams will combine. Details of that announcement can be found here.