Tim Sykes

Western Kentucky named Tim Sykes the school’s new head cross country and assistant track and field coach Wednesday.

Sykes served as Oregon’s assistant coach for the distance and cross country programs during the past year.

Prior to his move to Oregon, Sykes served as both an assistant track & field and cross country coach at Liberty in 2017 before being named the head cross country coach in January 2018.

In his season at Oregon, Sykes helped the Ducks to a highly successful year. Beginning during the cross country campaign, Oregon won the Women’s Pac-12 Cross Country Championships and NCAA West Regional before taking third at the NCAA Championships in Madison, Wis. The men’s squad closed the conference championships in fourth place before turning in a top-15 team finish at the NCAA Championships. The women added another third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Oregon wrapped up the season with a men’s Outdoor Pac-12 championship while the women brought home a runner-up finish. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Oregon’s women’s squad claimed fifth place while the men earned 12th as a team.

Between cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, Sykes assisted Oregon’s men’s and women’s distance squads to 20 collective First and Second Team All-America awards during his year in Eugene.

Sykes, who began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Ohio track & field teams in 2004, returned to the Bobcats as a volunteer assistant for cross country and track & field in 2013. In July 2015, Sykes was promoted to assistant women’s cross country and track & field coach, taking over all coaching duties for the Bobcats’ women’s distance runners.

In between his stints at Ohio, Sykes spent eight years coaching in Virginia, culminating with the 2012 season, when he served as VMI’s head cross country and assistant track & field coach.

Prior to that, Sykes was a volunteer assistant at VMI (2004-07), a volunteer assistant at Virginia Tech (2007-10) and an assistant cross country and track & field coach at VMI (2010-12).

A native of Amanda, Ohio, Sykes competed in cross country and track & field at Rio Grande from 1999-2003. He completed his final year of eligibility at Ohio (2003-04).

Sykes, a USA Track & Field Level I coach, has also been active in education. He was the coordinator of UVA-Wise’s health and physical education program during the 2012-13 academic year. Sykes has also taught a variety of college courses at Ohio, VMI and UVA-Wise.

WKU will open the 2019 cross country season Aug. 30 at the Belmont Opener in Nashville.