Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi director of track and field Shawn Flanagan
announced the hiring of Randy Bungard as the Islanders new head
coach for track and field.
Bungard comes
to the
Island University after spending the past several seasons in the
Atlantic Coast Conference as head coach at Virginia. He spent 11
seasons at the helm of the Cavaliers and also has made coaching
stops at Texas, Clemson, and East Tennessee State.
"We are very
fortunate to get a coach of Randy's caliber to come here," said
Flanagan, who worked briefly with Bungard on the Longhorns' staff.
"He is tremendous coach in the sprints, jumps and the long and
short hurdles. Randy built Virginia into one of the top teams in
the ACC and I think he can help provide stability and take us to
the next level."
Bungard is
excited about the opportunity before him and eager to build upon
the foundation left by former coach Brent Ericksen.
"I am very
excited to join the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi family," said
Bungard. "I've known and respected Shawn for 12 years and I look
forward to working with him in building this track and field
program to the level that I believe it can be.
"The department
and the program are relatively new and this is a great time to get
aboard and help build this into something very special. The campus,
the student-athlete experience, and the demographics of the city
are really special. Coach Ericksen set things up nicely for me and
I look to build on that and work to take that foundation to the
next level. We can do some great things here."
As the top
coach at UVA, Bungard built the program into a perennially
contender in the ACC. In his last season, the Cavaliers placed
second in both men's and women's track at the prestigious ECAC/IC4A
meet. Four athletes earned All-American honors including Yemi
Ayeni, who placed second in the country, out of nine NCAA
qualifiers. Five competitors were named All-East Region performers.
A total of six athletes won ACC titles a year with 22 being named
All-ACC.
In his tenure,
the cross country and track program at Virginia produced 33
All-Americans, two USATF national champions, 53 NCAA qualifiers, 34
Atlantic Coast Conference champions and 180 All-ACC performers.
During the 2006-07 academic year, Virginia was represented at the
NCAA Championships in men's and women's cross country, and men's
and women's indoor and outdoor track and field. UVA athletes earned
10 All-America and 17 All-ACC honors that year. Bungard's teams
also were successful in the classroom with 19 teams being named
USTFCCAA Academic Teams.
Individually, Bungard was named the Southeast Region and ACC Coach
of the Year for men's track and field in 2001. The coach is also a
member of the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championship. He
coached at least one All-American in each of his first 10 seasons
with the Cavaliers. Throughout his career, the new Islander mentor
has played a role in developing 12 NCAA champions, 94
All-Americans, over 100 conference champions, and nearly 300
all-conference performers.
Prior to his
work at UVA, Bungard, who had developed a background in many
specialties including the middle distance/distance area, throws,
jumps, sprints and hurdles, spent two years at Texas. Bungard has
personally coached two NCAA Champions. He first coached Angie
Barker of ETSU to a national title in the indoor shot put in 1988,
and in 1997 mentored Dana Riley to a national crown in the 800m. He
has also guided Nicole Devonish of Texas in the long jump and
Clemson's Kim Graham in the 200 in 1992 to runner-up finishes at
the NCAA Championship.
"I first saw
what Randy was capable of when we coached together briefly at
Texas," said Flanagan. "We was responsible for taking two athletes
that had been almost forgotten about and turned one into a national
champion in the 800 (Riley) and one to a runner-finish in the long
jump (Riley)."
A native of
Virginia, Bungard's coaching career began shortly after earning his
bachelor's degree in education with an emphasis in physical
education from Virginia Tech in 1987. He was a three-time All-Metro
Conference honoree in his career. Bungard continued his education
at East Tennessee State, where he earned his master's degree in
education with an emphasis in exercise physiology in 1988.
Bungard married
culinary artiste Meridith Thorpe on Oct. 6, 2006. Thorpe, a former
field hockey student-athlete at Virginia, was the first first-team
All-American in the sport at UVA. She graduated as the ACC and
Virginia all-time leading goal scorer. Thorpe was seventh in NCAA
history.
