Eastern Washington University Associate Vice President / Director of Athletics, Lynn Hickey, has announced Erin Tucker as EWU's Director of Track and Field/Head Track and Field Coach today (Aug. 31).
 
With a successful career as a student-athlete and coach at Florida, Tucker brings an extensive amount of experience and success to the program with prior stops at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Kentucky, and Pennsylvania State University.
 
"I want to thank the great Lynn Hickey, Catherine Walker and Augie Hernandez for giving me this amazing opportunity in our great sport of track and field. It is an honor and a blessing to be named the next Director of Track and Field and head track and field coach at Eastern Washington University," said Tucker. "I have been told many, many, times that I am ambitious. You have to think big to be big, and we will fight every day to be better than we were yesterday. I look forward to leading a special group of young minds at this amazing institution. I will do everything in my power to make sure our why becomes the best student 'hyphen' athletes they can be. We will think big so we can be big. Go Eags!"
 
He has coached nine Olympians, including at least one in every Olympic cycle since 2004. Besides two NCAA Champions and five runner-up's, he has coached 28 conference champions, 47 first-team All-Americans, 79 All-Conference selections, 68 school records across four institutions, three NCAA team champions, nine NCAA podium teams, six conference team championships, and 174 athletes ranked in the top-ten at their respective schools. He was also a two-time USTFCCCA Assistant Coach of the Year and has had 11 academic All-Americans.
 
"We are very excited to welcome Erin Tucker to our Eagle family as our new Director of Track and Field," said Hickey. "Not only does Erin bring a wealth of knowledge and experience from previous stops, his energy and enthusiasm are unmatched. We are looking forward to the future and seeing all that Erin and our student-athletes will accomplish."
 
Tucker comes to Cheney after serving as Pennsylvania State's associate head coach, a spot he held since July of 2015. During his time in Happy Valley, Tucker was the head sprints, hurdles, and sprint relays coach. In addition to being named the 2017 Mid-Atlantic Region Indoor Men's Track Coach of the Year, he coached 15 Big Ten Conference Champions and saw his athletes break 23 school records and hold 51 top-10 outdoor marks and 29 top-five indoor marks.
 
Prior to Penn State, Tucker was the head hurdles coach at Florida for four years. There, he coached an NCAA Champion and meet record holder in the 60-meter high hurdles, and two NCAA runner-up's in the 60-meter and 110-high hurdles. He also saw six athletes win Southeastern Conference titles along with eight school records and 13 top-10 marks.
 
At the University of Kentucky, where he served as the head sprints, hurdles and sprint relays coach from June 2003 to July 2011, he coached the NCAA Champion in the 200-meters along with three NCAA runner-up's in the 100-meters, 200-meters and the 4x400-meter relay. Tucker was named the 2006 Mid-East Region Outdoor Men's Track Coach of the Year and also coached six SEC Champions, 34 school record holders and 70 new top-ten marks.
 
His first full-time coaching position was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he oversaw all men's sprints, hurdles and relays. While in Champaign, he coached a Big Ten Champion and meet record holder, three school records, and 10 new top-10 marks in three seasons.
 
Tucker got his start at Florida where he was a two-time team captain on the track and field team. He had a standout career, and was named a six-time All-American once in the 400-meter hurdles, the 4x100 meter relays, and four times in the 4x400-meter relay. Tucker won a 400-meter hurdle SEC title while at Florida to go with a runner-up finish. He was also a four-time SEC Champion in the 4x400-meter relay. Tucker earned a total of six All-SEC honors in the 400-meter hurdles twice and 4x400-meter relays four times. He graduated from Florida in 1998 with his Bachelor's degree in 1998 and his Master's degree in education in 2000.