Illini Track adds Mitchell to Coaching Staff
August 16, 2022 | Women's Track & Field, Men's Track & Field
NEWS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The University of Illinois track and field Head Coach Petros Kyprianou has announced the hiring of assistant coach Dennis Mitchell. Mitchell comes to Illinois from Akron and he will coach the pole vault.
"Dennis brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our team," said Kyprianou. "I am very excited to add a legendary coach to our staff that has a proven record of developing NCAA champions and Olympians from scratch at Akron. He is someone that will match the energy and brainpower of the rest of the staff in our quest for NCAA & Big Ten success."
Mitchell has been Head Coach of the Akron men's and women's track and field/cross country teams since 1995. He grew the program from bottom of the conference to top overall in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Four years after his hire in 1999, the women's team earned the school's first ever outright MAC title when they won the outdoor championships. Since then, the school has seen a plethora of successes.
Mitchell led the squads to 35 MAC team titles and produced nine individual NCAA National Champions with six athletes. Akron was one of five programs that had individuals win national outdoor titles four years straight (2014-17). His teams finished in the top 25 10 times from 2011-19. Also, his teams finished in the top ten at the NCAA Championships twice.
"I'm excited about the opportunity to come to Illini Country and work under a great coach like Petros Kyprianou," said Mitchell. "I love his big expectations for the program, his vision pulled me out retirement. It will be a fun challenge to go from running a whole program to just focusing on the pole vault. I hope that my high expectations in the event will greatly contribute to Coach Kyprianou's goals. I see the "I" pointing to the sky."
He is a 33-time MAC and seven-time Great Lakes Region USTFCCCA Head Coach of the Year. He is the only coach in MAC History to win all four track and field titles in one year (2017). During the 2005-06 season, Akron became the first women's program in MAC history to win the triple crown (indoor, outdoor and cross-country title).
On the Olympic front three of his athletes participated in 2016 and three more in 2020. The most notable being 2016 800m bronze medalists Clayton Murphy. He also produced 2015 World Champion pole vaulter Shawn Barber.
Prior to Akron Mitchell spent four years at the University of North Carolina (UNC) as the men's and women's field event coordinator. Here he helped the men's squad win its first ACC team title since 1955. He directly coached 11 All-American performances and 20 ACC individual titles.
Before UNC Mitchell got his start at the University of Texas. Here he was a men's assistant field coach and he primarily coached the pole vaulters while assisting in hurdles. He helped Texas win Southwest Conference Titles in 1986 and 87.
Mitchell, a native of Rialto, California, graduated from Abilene Christian University (ACU) with his Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Government. While at ACU he was a national qualifier in the pole vault on the 1985 NCAA Division II championship team. He began his college career at the University of Utah where he was a two-time runner up in the pole vault at the Western Athletic Conference Championships.
Mitchell is making the move to Champaign with his wife Cindy. Cindy has graduated from the Leadership Akron program and is a graduate of the University of Akron. The couple has two sons; Matt and Chad (a graduate of Akron) and a trio of grandchildren.
