April 7, 2010
EL PASO - Longtime UTEP track and field head coach Bob Kitchens will retire following the 2010 outdoor season after 22 successful years at the helm of the Miners program.
Kitchens retirement will mark the end of an illustrious 42-year old career in which he orchestrated 24 national champions, 258 All-Americans, 18 conference titles and 622 conference champions beginning at West Texas A&M, then Mississippi State and finally at UTEP.
"The name Bob Kitchens is world-renowned and widely respected among the track and field circuit," Director of Athletics Bob Stull said. "The amount of success Coach Kitchens has had on and off the field isn't limited by the number of All-Americans and championships. He has done an outstanding job of not only continuing and adding to the tradition of athletic excellence, but he has built his own legacy within this university."
The Plainview, Texas, native, Kitchens began his coaching career at West Texas A&M in 1968 where he served until 1979. The 1977 cross country and 1979 indoor Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year produced six NCAA All-Americans and 70 league champions while leading the Buffaloes to conference titles in 1977 and 1979.
In 1979, Kitchens took over the reigns of the Mississippi State track and field program where he won the first national title at the 1982 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the men's 1,600 meter relay. During his nine-year tenure with the Bulldogs, his athletes won three national championships, earned 28 All-American honors and set 34 school records and two NCAA records. Lorenzo Daniel's record in the 200 meters (19.87) set at the 1988 NCAA Outdoor Championships still stands as of today.
Kitchens was summoned to lead the Miners' track and field program in August 1988. In 1990 he led the Miners to their first of 14 top-10 finishes as the men's squad placed 10th at 1990 NCAA Indoors Championships. Kitchens returned UTEP to the national spotlight in 1992 when, now UTEP assistant coach, Mika Laaksonen took gold in the weight throw at the indoor national meet. At outdoor nationals, Olapade Adeniken claimed titles in the 100m and 200m, while Laaksonen finished first in the hammer to lead the men to a fifth-place finish.
Two years later, Kitchens led the Miners to a second place at the 1994 NCAA Outdoor Championships as Andrew Tynes and Jim Svenoy taking the 200m and steeplechase crowns, respectively. Kitchens closed out the decade with eight more national champions including his first female champion Melinda Sergent, who won the 55-meter dash at the 1995 NCAA Indoor Championships, and future Olympian Obadele Thompson. Thompson duplicated Adeniken's 100m and 200m crowns at the 1997 outdoor national championships following indoor titles in the 200m in 1996 and 1997.
The Miners began the new century under Kitchens with Angeliki Tsiolakoudi's outdoor national title in the women's javelin in 2000 and Svetlana Badrankova's indoor crown in the women's 800m indoor run.
UTEP closed out their Western Athletic Conference tenure under Kitchens' tutelage with a sweep in the men's indoor and outdoor titles in 2005 and finished out the season with Mircea Bogdan's NCAA crown in the 3,000m steeplechase. Kitchens was a five-time WAC Coach of the Year, four times during the outdoor season (1996, 1997, 2003, 2005) and three during indoor competition (1994, 2002, 2005).
In 2006, Kitchens' Miners made their Conference USA debut with another sweep of the indoor and outdoor league's titles earning Kitchens his first pair of C-USA Coach of the Year awards. The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) named Kitchens the Mountain Region Indoor Coach of the Year and the Midwest and Mountain Regions Outdoor Coach of the Year after leading UTEP student-athletes to 17 All-American honors. Additionally, three of Kitchens athletes earned conference athlete of the year honors, while sprinter and future Olympian Churandy Martina was named the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.
During the 2008 outdoor season, Hanany became the NCAA Champion in the high jump, giving UTEP its first national championship since 2005. Eleven Miners earned a total of 13 All-American honors, and the women's team closed out the season with a 10th-place finish at nationals, its best ever finish at the national outdoor meet. Kitchens was named the 2008 USTFCCCA Mountain Region Women's Coach of the Year for the indoor season as he led the women's team to a 13th place finish at nationals.
Kitchens has coached over 30 Olympians during his coaching career, most recently current UTEP track and field standout Blessing Okagbare, the 2008 Beijing bronze medalist in the long jump. The 2010 C-USA Indoor Championships Performance and High Point Scored of the Meet, Okagbare led the Miners to their first ever conference championship in program history. She became the first woman in UTEP history to win two titles in a single national meet during last month's NCAA Indoor Championships.
The legendary coach will be honored at the 20th Annual UTEP Track and Field Hall of Fame Dinner on Thursday, April 8, at the Larry K. Durham Center, immediately following the induction ceremony.