Curt Kraft is in his fourth overall season with the program. Kraft's appointment at ECU officially ended a 14-year affiliation with the University of Nevada, where he spent 10 honor-producing seasons as head women's track and field coach. "Coach Kraft is a great motivator who impressed everyone involved in our search process as a demanding coach who would make sure our athletes enjoyed competing while working hard to win championships," said Director of Athletics Terry Holland. "Being able to hire a proven head coach who has won conference championships is a real plus." In his tenure at East Carolina, Kraft has seen nine athletes earn Conference USA individual titles and has guided the Pirates to improved showings at the indoor and outdoor championship meets. While at Nevada, Kraft produced track and field teams which consistently were among the top 25 of the National Collegiate Division I Team Power Rankings. In addition, he headed a Wolf Pack program which set new school records in every event for track and field, and cross country since 1995. Kraft earned consecutive Western Athletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year selections in 2003 and 2004 while leading the Wolf Pack to a pair of WAC Indoor Track & Field Championships. His success in 2003, which included the school's first-ever WAC title, also earned him NCAA Division I Mountain Region Coach-of-the-Year honors which preceded another milestone in his career - guiding Nevada to a conference cross country championship the next fall. For the second consecutive season, Nevada took three individual titles at the 2003 indoor championships. Erin Kelly broke her own WAC record to defend her pentathlon title, Chanika Corley won the 60-meter hurdles and the distance relay team (Julie Hinton, Kali Baker, Lindsay Roberson, Nicole McRae) also brought home gold. Additionally, Stephanie Tietjen won the lone outdoor event in the shot put. In addition to the titles, the 2003 team also added six new individual school records to the list. Erin Seward set a standard with her 17:04.03 mark in the 5,000-meters and Shante Winters-Frazier in the 60-meters with a 7.66 showing. Also, Caira Hane added a new distance of 184'03" in the hammer throw to the books and Tietjen broke shot put records in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. McRae also bested her own indoor record in the 800-meters. Kraft led the Wolf Pack to top-20 dual track meet rankings by the Track and Field Coaches' Association for five consecutive years as Nevada enjoyed its peak position at No. 5 after winning the WAC title. Additionally, three Wolf Pack athletes experienced competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Ali McKnight competed in the meet twice, taking second in the heptathlon in 1995, while Jenni Ashcroft finished seventh in the pole vault (2002) and Sam Young took 15th in the javelin throw (2003). Ashcroft was named NCAA Woman-of-the-Year in 2002 for the state of Nevada due to her fine showing that season. Prior to Nevada's move into the WAC, Kraft was selected as the 2000 Big West Conference Coach-of-the-Year after piloting the Wolf Pack to the league's outdoor championship. Off the track, Kraft's squad compiled the nation's second-highest grade point average (3.20) during the same season. Kraft produced all 33 individual conference champions in Nevada program history, including three which advanced to the NCAA Division I National Championships. He served as Nevada's assistant men's and women's track and field coach from 1991 to 1994, playing a pivotal role in the recruitment of athletes which claimed the 1993 Big West Conference Men's Track Championship. Kraft began his collegiate coaching career at the University of Nebraska in 1989 where he worked with all facets of the Cornhuskers' Big Eight Conference program, including distance, sprint-hurdles and all vertical and horizontal jump athletes. In 1990, Kraft served as the assistant meet director for the Junior Olympics in Lincoln, Neb., and worked alongside 1984 Olympic Throws Coach Ken Shannon at the Northwest Sports Track and Field Camp. Kraft earned his bachelor's degree in physical education and social sciences from Minot State (N.D.) University in 1984 before completing requirements for a master of science degree in education from Nebraska in 1996. Kraft's career started as an athlete, running hurdles in both high school and college. Kraft is married to wife Nancy and the couple are the parents of daughters Alicia (22) and Kayla (20). |
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