Berry Shumpert has been named jumps coach and Mary Angell has been named the director of operations for the USC track and field program, announced Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert today (July 25). Shumpert spent the 2013 season at Purdue as the jumps and multi-events coach where he helped lead senior high jumper Geoff Davis to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships and to first team All-America honors for the first time in his career. Shumpert spent the previous six seasons as the associate head men’s and women’s track and field coach at Coastal Carolina. Shumpert helped lead Coastal Carolina to eight big South Conference Championships (indoor and outdoor titles). He was in charge of the sprints, jumps and hurdles groups which produced between 60-80 percent of the team’s points at the conference meet during his tenure. In 2008, Shumpert was named the NCAA South East Region Coach of the Year. Shumpert also coached at Coastal Carolina from 1997-99 and 2000-01, where he helped the program set 20 new school records, had 35 All-Big South performers, 10 Big South Conference title holders and three Big South records.
Prior to his stint at Coastal Carolina, Shumpert served for two seasons as the assistant women’s track and field coach at Miami. He helped lead the team to four straight Atlantic Coast Conference team titles. While with the Hurricanes, Shumpert was in charge of the jumps and multi-events group that set the conference and university records in the long jump, triple jump and pentathlon. He also led the team to a fifth place finish at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships with All-America performances in the long jump, triple jump and pentathlon. One of his student-athletes, Tabia Charles, triple jumped 46-7 which ranked at the time as one of the top 10 jumps in NCAA history. Shumpert was named the 2005 and 2006 National Assistant Coach of the Year.
Prior to Miami, he spent three years at the University of Tennessee as a volunteer assistant track and field coach while he earned his master’s degree in sport management. Shumpert assisted one NCAA Champion, 13 All-Americans and nine All-Southeastern Conference performers. Shumpert also helped coach Tianna Madison, who was the 2005 World Champion in the long jump. He also worked in the Office of Academic Enrichment Programs as an education counselor, advising low-income, first-generation college-bound students.
In between his times at Coastal, he was an assistant cross country and track and field coach at Big South-rival Radford during the 1999-2000 season. He assisted in all phases of the program, while also producing four Big South champions, six All-Big South performers and 14 new school records. He also coached at two different high schools in Alabama, producing state champions in 1994 at Blount High School in Mobile and 1996 at J.O. Johnson High School in Huntsville.
Shumpert, who has his USATF Level II Coaching Certification in the jumps, earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Alabama A&M University in 1993. He was a member of the track and field team, competing in the sprints and jumps. He received All-Conference honors in the long jump and triple jump.
“I’ve known Berry for a long time. We worked together at Tennessee,” said Smith Gilbert. “I’ve always been impressed with his integrity, vision and ability to communicate with the athletes and to get them to perform at their best. He was very successful at Miami, Coastal Carolina and Purdue and has developed conference champions and All-Americans everywhere he has been. He will be a great asset to the USC program and I’m looking forward to the impact he will have on our team.” more
