Jeff Pigg Named Head Florida Cross Country Coach
Monday, June 17, 2002 | Cross Country
The University of Florida named Jeff Pigg the new head coach for the Florida Cross Country Program. For the first time in school history, both the men's and women's cross country programs will have the same coach. While focusing on cross country, Pigg will assist both track teams' distance athletes during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
"I felt it was time to put more of a focus on our cross country program," UF Athletics Director Jeremy Foley said. "A coach whose main focus is strictly cross country should be able to take the program to where we feel it needs to be. I felt Jeff Pigg had the background and experience to make both the men's and women's cross country teams successful on a national level."
"I don't know that anyone else in the country has a position like this," Pigg said. "The uniqueness of this position shows that Jeremy Foley and Florida's administration are thinking outside the box. It shows that they are always working to improve things. This creativeness is how the Gators get an edge on their opponents."
Pigg is 1988 graduate of the University of Florida. He was a member of UF's cross country and track and field teams and earned Cross Country All-Southeastern Conference honors in the fall of 1985 and was named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll in 1987. He had 10 top ten finishes in cross country races in his career as a Gator and still ranks on several of the school's cross country top ten lists. He earned three All-America honors and eight All-Southeatern Conference honors in both cross country and track. He won the SEC indoor mile twice in his career as a Gator. Pigg began his collegiate career at Missouri before transferring to Florida. In two seasons at Missouri, Pigg earned eight All-Big Eight honors. In the spring of 1985 he set a conference record and was an NCAA All-America in the 1,000-yard run.
Upon finishing his collegiate career at UF, Pigg started coaching at Gainesville High School. A year later he returned to UF as an assistant men's track coach from 1989-90. Pigg then moved on to a successful 10-year stint as the Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track and Field Coach at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. During his tenure the women's cross country team at MU automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships five times and the men's team qualified three times. He coached the Midwest Regional Individual Women's Cross Country Champion from 1995-97 and was named the NCAA Midwest Regional Cross Country Coach of the Year during those same years. In 1999, under Pigg's tutelage, Missouri's Derrick Peterson won the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor 800m and set the American Collegiate Record in the same event. The Tigers distance and middle distance athletes earned a total of 37 All-Big 12 honors during the 1999 cross country, indoor and outdoor campaigns.
In the spring of 2000, Pigg was named the head track and field coach at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. In his first season the cross country team won the Missouri Valley Conference Championships and Pigg was named the Missouri Valley Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year. This season he coached the NCAA Indoor mile Champion. From 1991-2002 twenty-seven of Pigg's athletes at both Missouri and Illinois State earned All-America honors in middle distance and distance events.
Pigg and his wife Vicki have a daughter, Olivia, 6, and a son, Cole, 4. They are expecting their third child in two weeks.
"I am excited about this hire," Head Women's Track Coach Tom Jones said. "Jeff has a lot of experience. He has done a tremendous job both at Missouri and Illinois State with the men and women's teams, and it is always nice to bring a Gator back. With our renewed commitment to cross country we will go back to nationals which is the goal for myself, Coach (Mike) Holloway and the administration."
"I am ecstatic about Jeff Pigg joining our staff," Head Men's Track Coach Mike Holloway said. "He was here when the Florida track program was at its best, so he knows how to get it done. I think combining the cross country teams and creating this new position shows Florida's commitment to our distance athletes. Coach Pigg is the person to be at the head of this new move."
"The opportunity to come back to Florida is very exciting to me," Pigg said. "Anybody that has been involved with Florida athletics understands the excitement at coming back to the place they competed. I hadn't been back to Florida in 12 or 13 years and was impressed with all the improvements in every area. The commitment to excellence by everyone in all areas at UF is unmatched. I am anxious to get started. I can't predict results, but my philosophy is that everyday I will come to work and do my best and work hard. That is what I will expect from the athletes as well, and if we all follow through with that, the results will come."
| The Pigg File |
| Date of Birth: 12/8/1963 |
| Hometown: Rogersville, Mo. |
| Education: Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Performance, University of Florida, 1988 |
| Family: Wife, Vicki; daughter, Olivia, 6; son, Cole, 4 |
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| 1983-85 - University of Missouri Cross Country and Track & Field Athlete |
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| 1985-87 - University of Florida Cross Country and Track & Field Athlete |
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| 1988 – Gainesville High School, Head Track & Field Coach |
| 1989-90 - University of Florida, Assistant Men's Track & Field Coach |
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| 1990-2000 - University of Missouri, Head Cross Country/Assistant Track & Field Coach |
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| 1999 – United States Pan American Team, Men's Assistant Coach |
| 2000-2002 - Illinois State University, Head Track & Field Coach |
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