Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Throws)
- Email:
- emwhits@uoregon.edu
- Phone:
- (541) 346-5438
Erik Whitsitt is in his 10th season as an assistant coach at Oregon, overseeing the Ducks' throws group.
Widely recognized as a rising star among the nation's elite throws coaches upon his arrival in Eugene, Whitsitt has coached his student-athletes to two NCAA titles, nine Pac-12 titles and six Oregon school records.
The Pueblo, Colo., native joined the UO coaching staff before the start of the 2012-13 season after an impressive three-year run at Illinois State.
In his time at Oregon, Whitsitt has seen his throws group collect 31 national qualifiers over eight NCAA Outdoor Championships with at least two advancing each year including a high of six in 2014. In six of those eight national meets, the Ducks had at least one men’s and women’s qualifier in the javelin.
At the 2021 Pac-12 Championships, Lauri Paredes led the charge with a runner-up finish in the javelin and the UO women got 25 points overall from its throws group. On the men’s side, Dalton Rasmussen finished fourth in the javelin. Paredes and Rasmussen went on to represent Oregon at the 2021 NCAA Championships at Hayward Field.
With a toss of 16.54m/54-3.25 at the 2021 Pac-12 meet, then-freshman Jaida Ross became the No. 5 performer in Oregon history in the shot put. That mark was good for fourth place at the conference meet.
The 2019 conference meet featured bronze finishes for Kiana Phelps in the women’s discus and John Nizich in the men’s javelin. Roughly a month later, Phelps was one of three Ducks making their NCAA debuts along with Max Lydum in the men’s hammer and Jackson Van Vuren in the men’s javelin.
In 2015, Sam Crouser successfully defended his NCAA title in the javelin and secured a fourth national title in five years for a Whitsitt-coached athlete. In total, the Ducks’ throwers scored 25 points at that year’s NCAA Championships with Greg Skipper and Jillian Weir finishing third and fourth in the hammer, respectively, with Brittany Man taking fifth in the shot put.
Crouser finished his career with four Pac-12 titles in the javelin—Whitsitt was his coach for the final three—and remains the only athlete to ever accomplish that feat in the event. Whitsitt continued to guide Crouser to an appearance at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing to close out his UO career.
Collectively, Whitsitt has coached six Ducks to a combined nine Pac-12 titles with Crouser (2013-15) in the javelin, Weir (2014) in the javelin, Mann (2015-16) in the shot put, Skipper (2016) in the hammer, Cody Danielson (2016) in the javelin and Ryan Hunter-Simms (2017) in the discus.
The win for Hunter-Simms—decided on his final throw—gave Whitsitt his first conference champion in the discus while Mann became the first UO woman to win a Pac-12 title in the shot put. Weir’s triumph in the women’s hammer was the program’s first since 2007.
While at Illinois State, Whitsitt oversaw the development of two-time NCAA men’s javelin champion Tim Glover, as well as two-time national women’s runner-up Brittany Smith who was second in both the shot put and hammer, in addition to a third-place showing indoors in the weight throw.
Glover, the 2012 USTFCCCA National Men’s Field Athlete of the Year, and Smith both competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The two ISU standouts represented the United States at the 2012 NACAC U23 meet in Mexico, where Glover won gold in the javelin and Smith was the silver medalist in the hammer.
At the 2012 Missouri Valley Championships, Whitsitt’s throwers accounted for 41 of Illinois State’s 90 points in claiming the league title. Following the season, Whitsitt was named the USTFCCCA Midwest Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year.
Prior to Illinois State, Whitsitt was the throws coach at McNeese State from 2008-09, where he guided three athletes—one each in the shot put, discus and javelin—to the NCAA East Regional Championships. He also served as the McNeese recruiting coordinator and academic liaison.
In the early stages of his coaching career, Whitsitt gained valuable experience as a volunteer assistant. He worked with the USA Track and Field Summer League teams in his hometown of Pueblo and another in Lake Charles, La. In two years with Team Lake Area Express, Whitsitt coached two AAU All-Americans in the javelin and helped Jon Poshe to numerous master’s national titles and state records.
During his collegiate career at Idaho State (2002-05) and Boise State (2005-07), Whitsitt was a two-time conference champion in the shot put and was a member of four conference team titles. He was a four-time regional qualifier in the shot put, qualified for the 2007 NCAA Championships and competed at the 2007 U.S. Championships.
Whitsitt holds a USATF Level I certification and is a USATF certified official. He and his wife Kacie reside in Eugene.
