ACU fills track, cross country vacancies

Wildcats tab Hood brothers to lead programs

ABILENE -- Abilene Christian University director of athletics Jared Mosley wasted little time in filling the Wildcats' vacancies in both the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs, naming head coaches for both spots on Friday and in the process turning the tables on Texas Tech.

Tech, which in the past few years has made a habit of luring coaches from ACU to Lubbock, will have to replace assistant track and field coach Don D. Hood, who has been named the Wildcats' head track and field coach.  Hood replaces Jon Murray, who last Monday was named the Red Raiders' head cross country coach and assistant coach on the track and field staff.  The Red Raiders are led by former ACU head track and field coach Wes Kittley, who was hired away from ACU in July 1999.

Murray is the third former ACU head coach to join the Tech staff since 1999, following Kittley and former head basketball coach Shanon Hays to Lubbock.

Mosley also announced that he has hired Derek Hood as the Wildcats' head cross country coach, also replacing Murray.  Murray served as both the cross country coach and track and field coach at ACU for four of the last five years, but those jobs will be separated again under the new coaching staff format.

Don D. Hood and Derek Hood are both sons of former ACU head coach Don Hood.  With both brothers acting as head coaches, they will each report directly to Mosley.

"During the process of finding a new leader for our track and field program, we determined it would be in the best interest of our program to realign the organizational structure and responsibilities within the coaching staff," Mosley said.  "During the search process, we quickly determined that we needed to split the cross country and track and field responsibilities to best address the needs of our program."

Don D. Hood served as an assistant to Kittley at Texas Tech from 2002-05, coaching men's and women's horizontal jumps and the pole vault.  He helped lead the Tech men to the 2005 Big 12 outdoor team championship, the first track and field conference title in school history.  The women finished third at the Big 12 outdoor championships for their best-ever finish at the meet.

During his four seasons at Texas Tech, Hood coached five all-America athletics, two school record-holders and 14 NCAA Division I championship meet qualifiers.

A 1987 ACU graduate and former student assistant at ACU, Don D. Hood knows the legacy of a program that has won 53 national track and field championships and has seen hundreds of athletes earn all-America honors.

"This track and field program means so much to my family, and to be given the opportunity to be the head coach is something that's a dream come true," he said.  "I grew up hearing about and watching it, and then I got to watch my dad revive it in the 1980s, and it's just a very special thing to all of us.  To be able to see my name on a list with Oliver Jackson, Don Hood, Wes Kittley and Jon Murray makes me realize what an incredible opportunity this is for me and my family."

Don D. Hood walks into a track and field program that's at the top of NCAA Division II track and field with the men having won eight straight NCAA Division II national championships (four straight indoor and four straight outdoor), including the outdoor championship in May at Elmer Gray Stadium.  The women's program, however, hasn't won a national championship since the 2000 indoor championship meet, and has lost the last two Lone Star Conference championship meets to Angelo State after winning the first 20 women's conference track and field championships.

"This is a little bit like, who would want to follow (legendary Arkansas track and field coach) John McDonnel?" Hood said.  "It's obvious that the program doesn't need any rebuilding.  You know, the women's program hasn't won a national championship in a few years, so that's one thing we'd like to get going again.  But as far as the men goes, the only thing to do is keep it going."

Hood was the head cross country and track and field coach at Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas State) from 1996-2002 where he led the Bobcats to five Southland Conference championships and in the process earned five SLC Coach of the Y ear honors.  He was the 2002 NCAA Regional Coach of the Year honors.  He coached three NCAA all-America athletes and more than half of the school's track and field records were set during his tenure.

He has also been an assistant coach at Sam Houston State and was the head cross country and track coach at Temple High School from 1988-94.

"Don D. brings a wealth of experience to the table as he takes the reigns for our track and field program," Mosley said.  "We were very impressed with his experiences as both an assistant and head coach at the Division I level.  He has been a part of the coaching staff at Texas Tech that has helped turn that program into a Big 12 contender in a relatively short period of time.

"Coach Hood is very connected in the recruiting world and will bring many valuable contacts with him as he looks to  build on the rich tradition we have here in ACU track and field," he said.  "His understanding of how to organize a program, recruit quality student-athletes, and past experience in the environment at ACU will serve him well as he guides our program to continued success.  We are very fortunate to find a man of Don D.'s caliber to guide our program."

Derek Hood takes over a cross country program that has been one of the most dominant in the NCAA Division II South Central Region for the last several years.  The men's program has won 14 straight Lone Star Conference team titles (with 14 straight individual winners), five straight NCAA Division II South Central Region titles, and finished in the top three at each of the last five NCAA Division II national championship meets, including runner-up finishes from 2000-03.  ACU has also produced the individual national champion three times in the last five years (Alfred Rugema in 2000 and 2002 and Nicodemus Naimadu in 2004).

Derek Hood has started two high school programs from scratch at Keller Fossil Ridge High School and Keller Central High School, where he served as the head cross country and track and field coach from 2003-05.  He served in the same capacity at Fossil Ridge from 1995-99.  He was the head cross country coach and track and field coach at Bethany College in Kansas from1999-2000, where he was named the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.  His entire women's track team earned all-conference honors, while 14 men earned all-conference honors.

"Derek brings some great experience in the area of cross country and distance," Mosley said.  "He's had the opportunity to twice start high school programs from scratch, and has done so with great success.  Hiring Derek to handle these duties in our program will allow the head track and field coach more flexibility and time to devote to other areas of the track and field program, while giving us a coach that can focus on this important area of our program."