COACHING STAFF
Erin
TUCKER
Seventh Year Florida, ’98 Associate Head Coach SPRINTS • HURDLES • RELAYS
Erin Tucker enters his seventh year as the associate head coach for the Nittany Lion track & field program following a fouryear coaching stint at his alma mater, Florida. Tucker oversees the sprints, hurdles and relays program. Heading into 2022 donning the Blue & White, Coach Tucker has coached 11 Big Ten champions, 23 All-Big Ten selections, six Academic All-Americans, and his student-athletes have broken 23 school records. Over the course of his coaching career, he has helped mentor 26 conference champions, 47 All-Americans and 10 Academic All-Americans. In 2021, Tucker helped guide Sincere Rhea to Penn State’s first indoor 60-meter hurdles championship and a Second Team All-America honor. He was also named USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year. Penn State’s women’s hurdlers jumped up the program leaderboards during the outdoor campaign, with Yasmin Brooks recording Penn State’s third best 100h time and 10th best 400h time, Antoinette Bradley recording the program’s sixth best 400h time and Ekaterina Hupalo climbing up to eighth on the 100h list. Brooks carried her success into the postseason, claiming silver in the 100h at the Big Ten Championships and earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors. During the 2020 indoor season, Tucker mentored Kiara Lester to Penn State’s second straight 400m indoor title. Along with Lester, Antoniette Bradley placed third at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with third best time in school history. Tucker also guided the women’s 4x400m relay team to a silver medal at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Bradley claimed bronze in the 400h at the conference meet, with both Bradley and Brooks qualifying to compete at the NCAA East Regionals. In 2019, Tucker coached Alexis Holmes to both the indoor and outdoor 400-meter Big Ten championship and a school record in the 400-meter indoor event. Holmes was a first team All-American in the 400-meter along with being named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Under Tucker’s tutelage the Nittany Lions turned in seven top-10 performances all time in Penn State history, this includes three school records. Tucker’s sprinters brought home a pair of Big Ten Championships and 11 events scored points during the Big Ten Championships. Under Tucker’s guidance, the sprint medley relay team set a school record at the 125th running of the Penn Relays. The relay team ran 3:45.25 to set the record while winning the Sprint Medley Championship of America. Tucker guided freshman Justin Ofotan into the Penn State record books three times in 2019 as well as preparing him for the world stage. Ofotan set a personal-best mark of 10.21 in the 100-meter dash at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships to qualify for the Pan American U20 Championships. At the Pan Am Championships, Ofotan and his 4x100m relay teammates set a new U20 world record in the event running 38.62.
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During 2018, Tucker’s event area tallied 13 Penn State record book performances, which included four school records. At the national level, freshman Terrance Laird finished 12th in the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Indoor Championships with his time of 20.97 and at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the men’s 4x100-meter relay (William Henderson, Anton Porter, Xavier Smith, and Malik Moffett) finished 14th with its time of 39.53. At the Big Ten Championships in 2018, Coach Tucker saw 17 finishes that scored points, which included four runner-up finishes. In 2017, Tucker helped coach the Nittany Lions to two conference championships, capturing the women’s title during indoor season as well as earning the men’s first Big Ten title ever during the outdoor season capturing the title on their home track. Four school records were broken during the second year under Tucker’s tutelage including the 60-meters (6.66) and 100-meters (10.32) by Xavier Smith, 4x100-meter relay (39.08) by Kowalchuck, Chisena, Smith and Moffett, and the men’s 4x400meter relay (3:04.80) (i) by Chisena, Smith, Sam Reiser and Isaiah Harris that set a new Big Ten Indoor record. In addition to the multiple school records, 20 other top-five/top-10 marks were set under Tucker’s watch. At the Big Ten Indoor Championships, the Nittany Lions recorded the highest combined finish in program history (Women - B1G Champions; Men – B1G Runner-up). The success of the Penn State sprints translated to Tucker earning 2017 Mid-Atlantic Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year accolades. Penn State, traditionally a mid-distance/distance program, has quickly become a sprint school as well, qualifying a men’s 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay as well as Moffett in the 200-meters to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. Under Tucker, Karson Kowalchuck (Canada), Malik Moffett (United States) and Keianna Albury (Bahamas) competed at their respective nations track & field championships with Kowalchuck doubling as the 100-200 Canadian champion. At the IAAF world championships in London, Albury and then volunteer assistant coach Eddie Lovett competed in the 4x100meter relay and 110-meter hurdles, respectively. Tucker wrapped up his first year in Happy Valley by making a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to serve as an Assistant Coach for the U.S. Virgin Islands track & field team. Tucker coached Eddie Lovett of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Indoor season saw Tucker lead Smith to a school record in the 60-meters, breaking a 13-year-old record in the opening meet of the season. Smith would go on to further lower the record to its season-ending mark of 6.68. Malik Moffett joined Smith in the topfive with his mark of 6.79 for the No. 4 all-time mark in program history. During the 2016 outdoor season, Penn State’s men’s 4x100meter relay ran the fastest time by a Nittany Lion squad in over 30 years blazing the track to the tune of 39.92 seconds at the Pac-12/ Big Ten Challenge in Tempe, Ariz. Tucker’s relay team recorded two of the top five-fastest sprint relays in program history during the 2016 season. Tucker’s 2016 squad also set program top-10 marks in the 100-meters and 200-meters including times of 10.45w, 10.46w, and 10.52w by Smith, Dan Chisena, and Anton Porter, respectively, as well as times of 20.73w, 20.96 and 21.05 by Moffett, Smith and Chisena, respectively. Tucker has three sons Ezra (11), Erin II (8), & Samuel (6) and he is the legal guardian of his nephew William (14).
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