Aug. 10, 2013

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Andrew Allden and James Daniels will join the University of South Carolina track and field program, Gamecock head coach Curtis Frye announced today. Allden returns to South Carolina after nearly a decade away from the university’s track program and will be an assistant coach charged with distances and cross country. Daniels joins the staff as an assistant coach for sprints and hurdles.

For the past nine years, Allden has run AA Elite Coaching in North Carolina, coaching many professional and amateur athletes in the Raleigh-Durham area. Karjuan Williams ranks as his most prominent charge in recent years, as he finished fifth in the 2010 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in the 800-meter run. He also serves as the USATF East Coast Coordinator for Level I Coaching Education, directing more than a dozen coaching schools per year on the eastern seaboard. In his over 14 years of coaching education, he’s helped educate over 2,000 coaches.

In his prior stint in Columbia, Allden led the Gamecocks cross country team from 1996-2000, guiding them to their best Southeastern Conference Championship finish in program history in his penultimate year, as the team ranked fifth in the 1999 final standings. That cross country team stands as the only one in South Carolina history with two athletes (Sara Hadwin and Joyce Peebles) earning All-SEC accolades.

During the period, the women’s track and field program did not finish outside of the top five at an SEC Championship event and captured their first SEC Championship at the 1995 outdoor meet. In 2000, the women’s squad posted a runner-up performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships. They also finished in the top seven at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for five-straight seasons. On the men’s side, the team finished in the SEC top five for seven consecutive indoor and outdoor conference championship meets during his stay. The men saw their greatest success in 1999 when they finished fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and tied for sixth at NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Twice, Allden served head track coach, first at Tulane (1995) and at Coastal Carolina (2001-04). His stint as the men’s coach at Coastal Carolina still stands out as some of the best years for the Chanticleers. Three student-athletes made the NCAA Championships that he coached, including top distance pupil Terak Kipchiris. The Big South Coach of the Year and Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 2003, Allden helped Kipchiris win the Big South Cross Country Championships individual title twice and earn all-region honors two times as well. Kipchiris became the first CCU male to compete in an NCAA Championship in cross country or track, earning an individual spot in the cross country field twice in 2002 and 2003.

During his Tulane time, serving as the interim head track coach for the 1995 track season, his team set nine school records, won seven individual conference titles and saw 19 performers earn All-Conference USA accolades.

This will be the third time Allden has worked with Coach Frye, after serving on his staff at North Carolina from 1989-93 as well as his 1996-2000 stint at South Carolina in this same capacity. His 1993 women’s cross country team with the Tar Heels advanced to the NCAA Championships, ranking eighth nationally, while his 1991 men’s team also made the national finals. He also guided one ACC individual men’s cross country champion, one runner-up and seven All-ACC cross country harriers.

Allden earned his bachelors from Emory University in English in 1986 and holds a masters in sports administration from Georgia in 1989. Three times, Allden helped Emory’s cross country team to NCAA Championship berths.

Daniels joins the Gamecocks after spending a year rebuilding the Central State (Ohio) track and field program in NCAA Division II. In the 2012-2013 season, he led the Marauders to third and fourth-place finishes in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) cross country championships as well as leading the men and women to their first highest team GPA Award. The program also saw its first track and field student-athletes named to the G-MAC All-Academic Team.

Prior to his stint with Central State, Daniels spent 11 years at North Carolina A&T. During his time in Greensboro, he coached 12 All-Americans, and his athletes posted 122 NCAA Preliminary Round qualifying marks. His teams also posted significant success in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Daniels saw eighteen different Aggies clinch 39 MEAC Championship individual titles, while seven relay teams take home a title. Two current MEAC conference records and 32 school records were set by Daniels’ charges. In the classroom, 120 Aggies were named to the MEAC All-Academic Team. Five of Daniels’ athletes were named Athlete of the Year at North Carolina A&T, and he also saw Loreal Smith (2009) and Jared Baldwin (2012) named MEAC Woman and Man of the Year.

As an assistant track coach for Division III power Christopher Newport, Daniels was a part of four NCAA championship teams and two runner-up finishes. At that level, he also oversaw two NCAA record holders and six individual NCAA champions, with his athletes earning 117 All-America citations.

In addition to working with the track program, Daniels served as assistant women’s basketball coach at Christopher Newport as well. The Lady Captains were 45-11 in conference play and 89-44 overall during his stint on staff. In 1992, the team advanced to the school’s first-ever Division III Sweet 16. In addition, he also worked with Karen Barefoot, the first player in NCAA history – male or female – to score 2000 points and have 1000 assists in a career.

Coaching at all levels of track and field, Daniels is certified USATF Level II coach in sprints, hurdles and relays. Numerous athletes Daniels has consulted have represented USA Track & Field on national teams. He is also a regarded lecturer and has spoken at the South Carolina-hosted Elite Summit and Coaches Clinic several times.

Daniels graduated cum laude from Hampton University. In addition, he earned Golden Key National Society Scholar Honors and was an Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society Inductee. He and his wife Tonya have three children, Naryah, Jameson, and Nathalya.