2026 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2026 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2026 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2026 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2026 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2026 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2025 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2025 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2025 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2025 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2025 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2025 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2025 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2024 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2024 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2024 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2024 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2024 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2024 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2024 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2023 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2023 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2023 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2023 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2023 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2023 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2023 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2022 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2022 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2022 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2022 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2022 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2022 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2022 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2022 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2021 SOCON WOMEN'S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2021 SOCON MEN'S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2021 SOCON WOMEN'S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2021 SOCON MEN'S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2021 SOCON MEN'S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2021 SOCON WOMEN'S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2021 SOCON MEN'S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2020 SOCON MEN'S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2020 SOCON WOMEN'S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2020 SOCON MEN'S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2020 SOCON WOMEN'S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2019 SOCON MEN'S OUTDOOR CO-COACH OF THE YEAR
2019 SOCON WOMEN'S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2019 SOCON WOMEN'S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2018 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2018 SOCON WOMEN'S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2017 JACKSON COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
2017 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2017 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2017 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2017 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2016 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR CHAMPIONS
2016 SOCON WOMEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2015 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2015 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2014 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2014 SOCON WOMEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2014 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
2014 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2013 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2013 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2011 SOCON MEN’S OUTDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2010 SOCON MEN’S INDOOR COACH OF THE YEAR
2010 SOCON WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY COACH OF THE YEAR
2009 SOCON WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY COACH OF THE YEAR
One of the top track and field coaches in the nation, Rod Tiffin has excelled as the head coach at Samford University and is entering his 20th season at the helm of the Bulldogs’ program. A 35-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year (33 track & field, two cross country), Tiffin has turned Samford's track and field program into a Southern Conference powerhouse.
Tiffin has earned 34 SoCon championships (32 track & field, two cross country) during his tenure. Entering the 2027 season, Samford has swept the SoCon Men’s and Women’s Indoor titles for seven-straight seasons. The women have won 11-straight titles, and the men have won seven in a row. Samford’s men’s outdoor team has won the last six-straight SoCon championships. The women’s team placed second at the 2026 SoCon Outdoor Championships, but the Bulldogs had won six titles in a row prior to that season.
In addition to numerous team awards and championships, Tiffin was instrumental in the success of Karisa Nelson, who became Samford's first-ever NCAA national champion at the Division I level, when she won the indoor mile in 2017. Nelson also finished second in the nation in the indoor mile as a senior in 2019.
Most recently, in 2026, Bradley Franklin placed second in the nation in the men’s indoor 60-meter hurdles and fifth nationally in the outdoor men’s 110-meter hurdles.
During his time at Samford, nine Bulldogs have been named the SoCon Men’s Indoor Most Outstanding Athlete, while three Samford student-athletes have earned SoCon Women’s Indoor Most Outstanding Athlete honors. Nine Samford men have been named the SoCon Men’s Outdoor Most Outstanding Athlete and six Bulldogs have been named SoCon Women’s Most Outstanding Athlete.
Tiffin’s teams have won SoCon Women’s Cross-Country Championships in 2009 and 2010. He has earned women’s indoor track & field titles in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Samford has won men’s indoor track & field championships in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. On the outdoor side, Samford has won men’s titles in 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, and
The women have won outdoor championships in 2014, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Tiffin coached previously at the University of Alabama. His primary responsibilities included long, triple and high jumpers, multi-event athletes, and throwers.
While working with Alabama Head Coach Harvey Glance, Tiffin’s field event crew amassed 17 school records, 20 All-American honors, eight Southeastern Conference Championships, three NCAA titles, a gold medal at the World University Games, two Olympic team berths and two World Championship berths.
During the 2001 season, Miguel Pate was Tiffin’s prized athlete at Alabama. Pate earned two All-American honors and won the gold medal at the 2001 World University Games. In 2002 at the USATF Indoor Championships in New York, Pate won the long jump on his second jump with a mark of 28'02.25", setting a collegiate record.
Pate went on to win the 2002 NCAA indoor long jump championship. After his exceptional collegiate career, Pate claimed three U.S. titles and a bronze medal in the long jump at the 2003 Indoor World Championships under Tiffin’s guidance.
Tiffin also trained Savante Stringfellow when he won a gold medal in the long jump at the 2003 Indoor World Championships.
Tiffin has coached All-Americans in several field events, including javelin, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, weight throw and decathlon. He has worked with four NCAA Champions: Nelson, Pate, decathlete Victor Houston and pole vaulter Clark Humphreys. He also coached two World Championship athletes, two Olympians and an Olympic Festival team member.
Before his stint at Alabama, Tiffin coached the highly successful field event crew at Auburn University. Before that, he served one year as the head track-and-field and cross-country coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he had been an assistant coach the two previous years. While at UAB, he coached 33 Great Midwest Conference individual champions and five All-Americans. He was named conference Coach of the Year during the indoor and outdoor track seasons, and track teams won the conference titles both seasons.
One of Tiffin’s first All-Americans at UAB was Vonetta Jeffery. Jeffery set 11 school and conference records and was an All- American in the 100-meter dash as well as a two-time All-American in the 200 meters and the long jump. In 1995, Jeffery was crowned the long jump champion at the United States Olympic Festival. She is a member of the United States bobsled team and was the first black female to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.
Tiffin set a few records of his own as an All-SEC standout decathlete for Auburn. He was ranked fourth on Auburn’s all-time list when he scored 3,590 points in the pentathlon. He previously held the seventh-best javelin mark in school history. Tiffin also played two years of basketball at Snead State Community College before transferring to Auburn University.
Tiffin received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Auburn in 1990.
A native of Scottsboro, Ala., Tiffin was a three-sport star at Scottsboro High School. He was named to Scottsboro’s Team of the Century first-team football roster.
Tiffin is married to the former Beth Groom of Birmingham. They have a son, Connor, and a daughter, Harper.
