Dave Cianelli, VT’s director of track and field and cross country, has announced the promotion of two coaches.
Throws coach Andrew Dubs has been named the associate head coach for the women’s track and field team. Tim Vaught, coach of the sprints, hurdles and relays, has been elevated to associate head coach for the men’s team.
“Both have done an outstanding job in elevating the level of their event areas and contributing to the championship level of our program,” Cianelli said. “I look forward to continuing the climb with these coaches and raising the high standard of our student athletes.”
Dubs and Vaught have continuously elevated already strong event groups since their arrivals. Over the past three years the duo’s groups have combined for 14 gold medals, which has helped the men’s and women’s team bring home three ACC team titles.
Since joining the Hokies in 2015 after serving as the associate head coach at Illinois, Vaught has turned his group into one of the top in the ACC and among the best in the nation. He was instrumental in the development of Jacory Patterson and Caitlan Tate, who have become two of the top sprinters in the country.
As a freshman, Patterson broke the school and U-20 World 300-meter record with his time of 32.49 seconds at the Virginia Tech Invitational. In 2020 as a sophomore, the Coluombia, S.C., native broke the collegiate record with his time of 32.32, became the first Hokie to win back-to- back ACC indoor 400-meter titles and was heading into NCAA indoors with a top-5 NCAA mark before the balance of the season was cancelled.
After deciding to change Tate from a 60- and 200-meter runner to the longer sprints, Vaught saw her have the best indoor season by a sprinter in program history. On top of setting individual school records in the 200-, 300- and 400-meters, Tate won the gold medal in the 400, silver in the 200 and the gold as a member of the women’s 4×400-meter team at the ACC Indoor Championships. Tate was also set to make her first NCAA appearance as she boasted a 14th best time in the country when the season was cut short.
Vaught has won seven ACC team conference championships at Virginia Tech. In his 19 years of coaching, he has had 32 conference championship teams and one team national championship.
“I’m extremely excited about being promoted to associate head coach for the men’s track and field team,” Vaught said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to add to our winning tradition at Virginia Tech. I would like to thank coach Cianelli for this opportunity and for being so influential as a mentor and director. My family and I are very excited about the future of the program. Go Hokies!”
Dubs has played a pivotal role in the continued development of the throws group since joining the program in 2017.
He guided Marek Barta to back-to-back seasons as the runner-up in the discus throw at the ACC Championships, and then in 2018, Barta was the ACC champion in the discus and went to a top-5 NCAA national ranking.
In 2019, Dubs became a part of NCAA history as he became just the fourth coach to have two women (Pavla Kuklova 65.78m; Emma Thor 65.32m) throw for over 65 meters in the hammer throw in the same season.
“I am humbled and very excited to take this next step within our program here at Virginia Tech,” Dubs said. “Thank you to Coach Cianelli for this opportunity and for his belief in me to take on this responsibility.
“To move forward as associate head coach, along with Coach Vaught, shows tremendous strength in the future of our program,” Dubs said. “The success of our program has been built on the qualities of hard work, passion and a desire to provide endless opportunity to our student-athletes.
“I am eager to continue working with Coach Cianelli, our staff and all our incredible student-athletes to bring future ACC and NCAA championships home to Blacksburg. I also want to thank our administration, specifically Whit Babcock and Chris Helms, for their remarkable support of our program and for believing in the vision that Coach Cianelli has set forth.”
