World-Class Miler Spivey Named Assistant Track/Cross Country Coach

June 4, 2001

Jim Spivey, a three-time Olympian and current United States record holder, has been named assistant track/cross country coach by Head Coach Lori Shepard.

Spivey comes to Vanderbilt from the University of Chicago, where he was the men's and women's head coach for cross country and track and field. The 1998 Midwest Regional Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year has produced 12 All-Americans, more than half of UC's 21 All-Americans, in his four years as head coach. He led the women's cross country team to a sixth-place finish at the 1998 Division III Cross Country Championship.

As a competitor, Spivey competed in the 1984, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, and is a five-time World Championship team member. He won a bronze medal at the World Championships in 1987. Spivey was inducted to the Drake Relays Hall of Fame in 1992, the Indiana University Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Fenton (Ill.) High School Hall of Fame in 1996.

Spivey currently owns several U.S. records including the 2000-meter American record, a 4:52.44 in Switzerland. He also ran a 3:36.06 in 1984, the fastest time by an American in an Olympic 1500-meter final, and a 3:35.35 in the semifinals of the 1992 Olympic 1500-meters, the fastest time by an American in Olympic competition. He was ranked No. 1 in the US four times during his career in the 1500-meter run.

At Indiana University, Spivey won 13 Big Ten titles and was a two-time NCAA Individual Champion. At Fenton High in Bensenville, Illinois, he won the state championship in the half-mile as a senior and was a three-time runner-up.

"Coach Spivey brings some intangibles to our program which include world-class experience and years of being an athlete," Shepard says. "He has proven himself as a coach at the University of Chicago, producing several All-Americans. I am excited to see what he will bring to the program. I have already experienced his enthusiasm and know it will affect the program. He has a good balance of the art and the science of coaching. Not only will Vanderbilt benefit from him, but the running community in Nashville as well.

"Kids we are recruiting, more than not, don't know all of his accomplishments, but I'm telling them to 'Ask your coach!' These kids haven't experienced the 'Spivey as an athlete' era, but they will get to experience the 'Spivey as a coach' era now."

Spivey and his wife Cindy have three children, Sebastian, Samuel and Simon. He will begin his coaching duties July 1.