Samford University Athletics

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

Arguably 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 14th season at the helm of the Bulldogs’ program.A 16-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year, Tiffin has turned Samford's track and field program into a Southern Conference powerhouse.

Tiffin has already earned 15 SoCon championships during his tenure, including the program's first four-peat where the men's and women's squads swept both in Southern Conference Indoor Championship titles and the Southern Conference Outdoor titles. For the women the 2021 SoCon Indoor crown marked their sixth in a row, while the men sucessfully completed their defense of the 2020 SoCon Indoor title. Under Tiffin's tutelage, high jumper, Justin Stuckey qualified for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Nationals making first team All-America indoors and second team All-America during the outdoor campaign. Stuckey also qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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 outdoor mile in 2017.

In his first year as head coach in 2008, Tiffin led his cross country teams to a second-place finish on the women’s side and a fourth-place finish on the men’s side. The women’s team followed with consecutive conference championships, winning the SoCon title in 2009 and 2010. Tiffin was named SoCon Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in both championship seasons.

In Samford’s first appearance at the SoCon Indoor Track and Field Tournament in 2009, both Samford teams finished fourth. Tiffin also had six student-athletes earn All-SoCon honors while four garnered All-Freshman honors. Five athletes walked away with individual championships, and three set school records throughout the season.

In the 2010 outdoor season, the Bulldogs took third on the men’s side and fourth on the women’s side. Four student-athletes won individual events and earned All-SoCon honors while eight garnered All-Freshman honors. Four athletes qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional in five events. Four school records were broken throughout the outdoor season. 

Tiffin was named SoCon’s Indoor Men’s Co-Coach of the Year in 2010 alongside Western Carolina’s Danny Williamson. He also coached the 2010 SoCon Indoor Championship’s Most Outstanding Performer, Cameron Bean.

Also in 2010, the Bulldogs set 11 indoor records, five at the SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championship. Samford won four events, and earned seven All-Freshman honors and 10 All-SoCon honors. The Bulldogs also set 12 school records in the outdoor season, earning 10 All-SoCon honors and nine All-Freshman honors, and won six individual events.

In 2010, Tiffin took his first Samford athlete to the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. Under Tiffin’s direction, Samford pole vaulter Michael Seaman, a first-year transfer from the University of Tennessee, became the first male athlete from Samford to qualify for the NCAA Championships. He finished 16th in the event at the championships after breaking the school record twice earlier in the season.

In 2011, Tiffin helped coach Michael Seaman to his second-consecutive NCAA Championship appearance, where he earned second team All-America honors in the pole vault.  The Bulldogs also qualified seven athletes to the NCAA East Regoinal, the largest group in school history.  For his outstanding season, Tiffin was named the 2011 SoCon Outdoor Men’s Track and Field Coach of the Year.

Both the men’s and women’s track and field programs captured the SoCon Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2014 under the guidance of Tiffin. The Bulldogs sent eight student-athletes to Jacksonville, Fla., for the NCAA Regional Preliminaries and one to the NCAA Championships. Adam Jones represented Samford in the men’s 1,500 meters at the NCAA Championships where he earned All-American honorable mention.

Tiffin also coached Patrick Wells, a transfer from the University of Alabama, to back-to-back SoCon Outdoor pole vault championships.

Michael Seaman made return trips to the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships in 2012, where he finished sixth and 17th, respectively. Combined, the men's and women's teams crowned seven indoor conference champions and five outdoor. At the indoor meet, Bo Ackerson Gilroy was named the Men's Most Outstanding Athlete and Most Outstanding Field Performer.

Outdoors, Emily Allen was named the Women's Most Valuable Field Performer while Bob Elliot II was the Men's Freshman of the Year.  The Bulldogs also qualified an impressive total of five athletes to the NCAA East Regional during the 2012 outdoor season.

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 three NCAA Champions: 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.