Whitsitt Named Assistant Coach for Throws

Nebraska track and field head coach Justin St. Clair has announced the addition of national champion assistant coach Erik Whitsitt to the Husker coaching staff. Whitsitt will assist St. Clair in coaching the Husker throwers. 

Whitsitt joins the staff after spending the last three seasons as the throws coach at Tennessee. He spent the previous 10 seasons at Oregon where he was part of 12 NCAA Championship teams, six each on the men's and women's side.

In his three seasons at Tennessee, Whitsitt guided his throwers to six combined All-America honors in the men's discus, men's javelin, women's hammer, women's weight throw and women's discus. Additionally, he guided Tennessee throwers to freshman records in the men's and women's weight throw, men's javelin and men's discus. This past June, Whitsitt coached Aidan Ifkovits to the USATF U20 hammer gold medal. 

At Oregon, Whitsitt coached student-athletes to two individual NCAA titles, 10 Pac-12 titles and six Oregon school records. He guided 34 athletes to NCAA Outdoor Championship appearances. 

Whitsitt was also instrumental in the development of USA Junior U20 javelin national champion Kohana Nakato and current Husker Mine De Klerk, who won the world U20 title in the shot put and was a bronze medalist in the discus.

"Coach Whitsitt has established himself as a top tier throwing coach in the NCAA and brings a wealth of experience in recruiting, mentoring student-athletes, coaching at an elite level and has been a part of championship programs," St. Clair said. "We are excited to welcome Erik and his family to the University of Nebraska.”

"Justin and I have been friends for decades. We come from a lot of the same mentorship. I’ve valued his opinions as a coach, husband and father, and I couldn’t be happier for the opportunity to work side by side with him and his staff," Whitsitt said. "I look forward to helping build upon the storied success of Nebraska track and field and cross country programs and can’t wait to get to work. Go Big Red!”

At Oregon in 2015, Sam Crouser successfully defended his NCAA title in the javelin and secured a fourth national title in five years for a Whitsitt-coached athlete. In total, the Ducks’ throwers scored 25 points at that year’s NCAA Championships with Greg Skipper and Jillian Weir finishing third and fourth in the hammer, respectively, with Brittany Man taking fifth in the shot put.

Crouser finished his career with four Pac-12 titles in the javelin - Whitsitt was his coach for the final three - and was the first athlete to ever accomplish that feat in the event. Whitsitt then guided Crouser to an appearance at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing to close out his UO career. Collectively, Whitsitt coached seven Ducks to a combined 10 Pac-12 titles. 
 
Prior to his time in Eugene, Whitsitt coached at Illinois State and developed two-time NCAA men’s javelin champion Tim Glover. He also coached two-time national women’s runner-up Brittany Smith who was second in both the shot put and hammer in addition to a third-place showing indoors in the weight throw.
 
Glover, the 2012 USTFCCCA National Men’s Field Athlete of the Year, and Smith both competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The two ISU standouts represented the United States at the 2012 NACAC U23 meet in Mexico, where Glover won gold in the javelin and Smith was the silver medalist in the hammer.
 
At the 2012 Missouri Valley Championships, Whitsitt’s throwers accounted for 41 of Illinois State’s 90 points in claiming the league title. Following the season, Whitsitt was named the USTFCCCA Midwest Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year.
 
Whitsitt began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant, working with the USA Track and Field Summer League teams in his hometown of Pueblo and another in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
 
During his collegiate career at Idaho State (2002-05) and Boise State (2005-07), Whitsitt was a two-time conference champion in the shot put and was a member of four conference team titles. He was a four-time regional qualifier in the shot put and qualified for the 2007 NCAA Championships.