Well-traveled coach returns to east Tennessee

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 27, 2013) – ETSU Director of Track & Field/Cross Country George Watts announced Friday the addition of Hassaan Stamps as the new sprints and hurdles coach for the Buccaneers’ track & field program.

“I am pleased to announce the hiring of Hassaan Stamps as our new sprints and hurdles coach,” said Watts. “Hassaan has experienced a tremendous amount of success both as an athlete and as a coach on the collegiate and international levels. He can coach and recruit and will hold his athletes to a very high standard on and off the track.”

Stamps comes to ETSU with 13 years of coaching experience including his most recent stop as an assistant coach, focusing on jumps and multi-events, at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville from 2010-13. At SIUE, athletes under his tutelage rewrote the school record books by breaking seven records during his tenure.

A recent international coaching experience also highlights Stamps’ resume. In 2012, he served as the head coach of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's national team. Before leading the Saudis into international competition at the 2012 World Junior Championships and the London Games, Stamps took a sabbatical from SIUE to develop and recruit Saudi Arabia's top junior competitors while coaching elite-level athletes.

Prior to SIUE, Stamps had coaching stints at various universities throughout the country.

From 2008-10 he served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida International. While at FIU, Stamps helped recruit one of the largest and strongest incoming classes in school history. He also helped coach the school's pentathlon and heptathlon school record holder.

Preceding his time at FIU, Stamps spent 2007-08 at neighboring University of Miami coaching hurdles, jumps and multi-events for the Hurricanes. At Miami, he coached three All-Atlantic Coast Conference performers, two NCAA qualifiers and one NCAA All-American.

Stamps’ coaching journey also brought him to the University of Vermont in 2006-07 where he helped guide the Catamounts to 17 school records.

His first collegiate coaching experience began on the west coast where he served as an assistant coach at California State University Los Angeles from 2003-06. While at Cal State, Stamps oversaw 14 All-Americans, including a national champion.

The coach is also a Level II certified USA Track and Field (USATF) instructor as well as Level I certified with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Stamps’ credentials as a student-athlete are quite extensive as well. While at the University of Tennessee from 1999-2002, the gifted hurdler and sprinter earned five All-American certificates and helped the Volunteers to the 2001 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championship and the 2002 NCAA Division I Indoor Championship.

While etching his name into the UT track & field record books, Stamps also helped the Vols to back-to-back outdoor Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles in 2001 and 2002 as well as serving as a team captain during the aforementioned championship seasons. In the classroom, the student-athlete was also named the SEC Track & Field Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2001.

The four-time all-SEC selection earned a bachelor's degree with a double major in sports management and psychology from the University of Tennessee in 2003.

“I have no doubt coach Stamps will have clearly defined expectations for his group and they will be well prepared for the championship meets,” said Watts. “I know our sprinters and hurdlers are eager to get started with their new coach.”

Stay tuned to ETSUBucs.com for more information about ETSU track & field throughout the offseason.

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