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Entering his 11th year as Director of Virginia Tech Track & Field and Cross Country, Dave Cianelli has built the Hokie program into one of the elite programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the nation. Since Cianelli’s arrival in the fall of 2001, Virginia Tech athletes have produced 10 NCAA individual titles, 100 NCAA All-America performances and 89 conference titles. In addition, Hokie teams have finished in the national top-10 five times and the national top-20 17 times since 2005.
E-Mail: dcianell@vt.edu
Phone: (540) 231-3094
Virginia Tech (2001-Present)
Southern Methodist University (1988-2001)
Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo (1985-1988)
By The Numbers
236 All-Americans
184 Conference champions
98 Percent graduation rate at Virginia Tech
38 NCAA champions
139 School records at Virginia Tech
23 Olympic and World championship qualifiers
20 Top-10 women's NCAA finishes
14 Top-10 men's NCAA finishes
3 NCAA Division II cross country national championships
3 NCAA Division II outdoor track runners-up
NCAA, REGIONAL AND ACC SUCCESS
The 2011 Hokies continued to demonstrate why they are one of the nation’s elite track & field programs. The men’s team fifth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships was the highest in program history and matched the finish of the 2010 women’s outdoor squad. The men also placed 15th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, won their first-ever ACC Indoor crown and placed second in the conference outdoors. The women finished 20th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and were third at the indoor conference championship. Alexander Ziegler and Dorotea Habazin each won national titles in the hammer throw and Marcel Lomnicky (hammer) and Matthias Treff (javelin) both earned national runner-up finishes. Ziegler also placed second nationally in the indoor weight throw. In all, 14 different Hokies earned a total of 20 All-American performances.
USA AND INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS
In the summer of 2011, the Hokies were well represented at the United States Senior and Junior Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. Michael Hammond qualified for the final of the senior 1,500-meter run and finished 13th, while teammates Taylor Crosson and Courtney Dobbs finished second and third, respectively in the 5,000-meters at the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In 2010, Jared Berman placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the USA Junior Championships and advanced to the IAAF World Junior Championships and where he made the final, placing ninth.
In 2008, Queen Harrison made history when she earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, by finishing second in the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify in the event. Harrison was the first Tech track and field athlete to represent any country in the Olympics and only the second Hokie to become an American Olympian in any sport, following Bimbo Coles who represented the United States in basketball in 1988.
COACH OF THE YEAR HONORS
Cianelli’s illustrious career is proven by the awards he has collected throughout his career. This past season, he was awarded both the Men’s Indoor and Outdoor Southeast Region Coach of the Year award by the USTFCCCA. Cianelli was also named the Men’s ACC Indoor Coach of the Year for leading the Hokies to their first-ever ACC Indoor title.
Last year, he was named the 2010 ACC Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year. In 2008, he won the ACC Women’s Indoor, ACC Women’s Outdoor and East Region Women’s Coach of the Year honors for the second straight year. Cianelli also won his second consecutive USTFCCCA Women’s Indoor Southeast Region Coach of the Year honor in 2008.
Cianelli has assembled one of the most accomplished coaching staffs in America. Associate head men’s and women’s track & field coach Greg Jack was named the USTFCCCA’s Men’s Outdoor Regional Coach of the Year for the second year in a row in 2011. Jack was also named Men’s Indoor Regional Coach of the Year in 2010 and National Throws Coach of the Year in 2006. Former Hokie and NAIA Region XII Coach of the Year Ben Thomas is the cross country coach and distance coach and has produced 10 All-Americans in cross country and track during his tenure at Tech. Thomas is assisted by former All-SEC runner Jen McGranahan. Long-time assistant Bob Phillips, a former All-American for the Hokies, coaches the pole vaulters. Phillips earned recognition in 2011 as the USTFCCCA’s Men’s Indoor Regional Assistant Coach of the Year. Tech introduced Charles Foster as the sprints, hurdles and jumps coach in the fall of 2009. Foster quickly made a reputation for himself, earning USTFCCCA Regional Coach of the Year honors for the women’s sprints and hurdles. Foster is a former world record holder in the 110-meter hurdles and a U.S. Olympian in 1976. Under Foster’s coaching, Queen Harrison won three NCAA national titles in the hurdles in 2010 and was selected by Track and Field News as the collegiate athlete of the year and received the 2010 Bowerman Award as the most outstanding female collegiate track and field athlete. Foster was honored in 2008 by the USTFCCCA as Men’s National Coach of the Year for sprints and hurdles.
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
The Virginia Tech track & field and cross country programs continue to achieve at a high level in the classroom. Kelly Phillips became a two-time Capital One Academic All-American in 2011 with her selection to the first team. She also won the NCAA Elite 88 Award, which recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers.For the 2011 track season, 16 total individuals were named to the All-ACC Academic team. In addition, the women’s cross country team earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades for the seventh season in a row. In 2010, both Matej Muza and Kristi Castlin were honored as the ACC scholar-athletes of the year for track and field.
PREVIOUS COACHING EXPERIENCE
Prior to Tech, Cianelli gained plenty of experience in 13 seasons as an assistant coach at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. With the Mustangs, Cianelli worked with 19 Olympic and World Championship competitors, 27 NCAA individual champions, 123 All-Americans and 95 individual conference champions. Cameron Taylor of New Zealand was a quarterfinalist in the 200m at the 1992 Olympics, and Tytti Reho won the 2000 NCAA championship in the 800m.
In cross country, both the men’s and women’s teams captured the 1995 Southwest Conference titles and earned a spot in the NCAA Championships. During 13 years at SMU, the track & field teams finished in the top-10 nationally 15 separate times.
Cianelli served as the assistant women’s track & field and cross country coach at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo from 1985-88, where he helped the cross country team to the NCAA Division II National Championship three consecutive seasons; and the outdoor track & field teams finished as the runner-up at the NCAA Division II Championships three years in a row. Individual honors during his four years included 13 All-Americans and one NCAA champion.
Cianelli started his coaching career at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, Calif., as the head track & field coach from 1982-84. In three seasons, he coached seven junior national qualifiers in the heptathlon and decathlon.
PERSONAL
A native of Bethesda, Md., Cianelli was a student-athlete at Bowling Green State University, competing in sprints, the decathlon and the long jump. He graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in physical education.
Cianelli and his wife, Ellen, have a daughter Mariah and son Sebastian.
