Aug. 17, 2007

The University of Texas-Pan American Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Friday (Aug. 17) that three-time Olympian Dennis Darling has been promoted to UTPA head track and field/cross country coach after serving as an assistant coach last season.

Darling takes over the head coaching vacancy of the UTPA track and field program after Ricky Vaughn resigned as head track and field/cross country coach to become the Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Support and Student Services in July of 2007.

"I'm extremely excited to take over this position because the program was left in tremendous shape by Coach Vaughn and has a very bright future," said Darling. "Even though I have only been an assistant coach for one season, I really believe that I can use my background and experiences to continue the strong tradition of UTPA track and field."

"Dennis was a tremendous athlete when he competed and an outstanding representative for the Bahamas during his Olympic career. We believe that Coach Vaughn had done a tremendous job with our men's and women's track and field programs, and Dennis will be able to continue to build upon this already strong foundation. We feel extremely fortunate and excited to have a person of Dennis's caliber take over the reigns of our track and field program," said UTPA Director of Athletics Scott Street.

A world-class athlete, Darling was a member of the 4x400 relay squad that represented the Bahamas and qualified for the finals in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Darling became the second freshman - joining Carl Lewis - in the history of the University of Houston track and field program to be selected to the Olympic team during his freshman season when he anchored the 4x400-meter relay team during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA.

At the 1996 Olympics, the newly-named Bronc assistant coach was part of a Bahamas relay squad that finished fifth overall, and it would be the first of three trips for Darling as he helped propel the relay squad to a fourth-place finish at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, and a sixth-place showing at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, where he was selected as the team captain.

Darling captured his bronze medal at the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Championships in 2003 with a time of 3:00.53 in the 4x400-meter relay in Paris, France. Darling was also a part of a 4x400-meter relay squad that reached the finals at the 1999 IAAF World Championships in Seville, Spain.

A four-time participant at the IAAF World Championships, Darling competed in the men's 400-meter race in Athens, Greece, and competed with the 4x400-meter relay squad at the 1995 IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Following his world class career on the track, Darling joined the UTPA men's and women's track and field program in October of 2006 and made a strong impact in his one season with the Bronc and Lady Bronc sprinters. In his one season, Darling helped the UTPA sprinters put together one of the strongest campaigns in recent years and that tread should continue to improve with the signing of several strong sprinters for the upcoming season.

"I believe that this is a great opportunity for Dennis, and I'm very happy that Scott Street and the rest of the search committee chose to have him take over my position as head track and field coach. Dennis did a tremendous job for us as an assistant coach and has strong recruiting ties, and I believe that he has all of the credentials needed to do a great job as our head coach," said Vaughn.

Darling was a standout for the University of Houston track and field program where he captured 12 Conference USA individual titles and won his first NCAA National Championship in the 400-meter dash with a time of 46.65 in 1998. During his career with the Cougars, Darling captured three titles in the 200-meter, 400-meter dashes and the 4x400-meter relay.

During his senior campaign, Darling was selected as the Conference USA Indoor Men's Athlete of the Year for the second time in his career after receiving the same award during his junior season. Darling was a four-time All-American with the Cougars and captured All-American laurels in both indoor and outdoor competition during his freshman campaign.

While at the University of Houston, Darling was selected as the Mentor of the Year by the EXCEL Program, which matched up incoming freshmen with senior mentors during the academic year.

Athletic standouts from deep in the Darling family as his brother, Devard, is a wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens and his cousin, Frank Rutherford, became the first athlete from the Bahamas to win an Olympic medal where he received the bronze medal in the triple jump at the 1992 Olympics.

Darling is married to fellow Bahamian sprinter Tonique Williams-Darling, who captured the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. His wife became the first athlete from the Bahamas to win a gold medal in Olympic competition.

The newly-named UTPA head track and field/cross country coach will begin his duties immediately for the Broncs and Lady Broncs.

UTPA Sports Information