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Greg Jack, the associate head track and field coach, is in his 16th season at Virginia Tech and has helped build the Hokies into one of the nation’s premier throwing programs.

Since coming to Tech, Jack’s throwers have won a total of 12 national championships. The most recent came in 2015 when Irena Sediva captured the title in the women’s javelin throw, giving the school its first javelin national champion. She became the school’s second female thrower and third woman overall to win a national title (Queen Harrison and Dorotea Habazin).

Spyridon Jullien was Jack’s first nationally acclaimed thrower at Tech. He won four national titles in his career (2003-06) – twice each in the weight throw and hammer throw – and Alexander Ziegler added three national titles, claiming the hammer throw crowns in 2011 and 2012 and the weight throw title in 2013. Marcel Lomnicky won the hammer throw national title in 2009 and the weight throw title in 2012, while Habazin won the hammer throw crown in 2011 and Tomas Kruzliak won the hammer throw title in 2013.

In all, Jack’s throwers have won 12 of the school’s 15 individual national titles.

“I consider Greg Jack to be one of the top throws coaches in the nation,” said Dave Cianelli, Virginia Tech’s Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. “He consistently develops and prepares his athletes as well as any coach I have seen during my 30 years in the business.”

In 2016, Matija Muhar, a freshman, continued a streak for the Hokies when he won the ACC title in the men’s javelin event at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Tech throwers have won at least one ACC title at the league’s outdoor meet every year since the school joined the league. Tech throwers have been nearly successful at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, having won at least one individual title in seven of the school’s 11 years in the league.

Sediva paved the way for Jack and his throwers in 2015. As a freshman, she won the ACC title and the NCAA title, claiming the NCAA crown on her final throw when she heaved the javelin a school- and ACC-record 192 feet, 9 inches (58.76 meters). Sediva was named the ACC Outdoor Performer of the Year after breaking the school record on several occasions during the 2015 season. 

Breaking records is nothing new for Jack’s throwers. Under his leadership, they own the men’s and women’s indoor school records in the shot put and weight throw and they own the outdoor school records in the shot put, discus, hammer throw and javelin throw. Ziegler holds the Rector Field House record – the Hokies’ indoor home – in the weight throw (23.69 meters, or 77 feet, 8.75 inches).

Tech throwers also currently hold four ACC records. Sediva owns the women’s javelin mark (61.44 meters; 196 feet, 5.8 inches), while Matthias Treff has the men’s javelin record (77.88 meters; 255 feet, 6 inches). Lomnicky holds the hammer throw mark for the men (75.84 meters; 248 feet, 10 inches) and Habazin owns it for the women (68.35 meters; 224 feet, 3 inches).

As a result of his throwers’ successes, Jack has been the recipient of numerous regional and national awards over the past 16 years. In 2006, he received the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Throws Coach of the Year honor. Seven of Tech’s throwers earned All-America honors that season, including Jullien, who won the weight and hammer throw national titles that year.

Jack also was named the USTFCCCA Men’s Southeast Region Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year in both 2012 and 2010 and the USTFCCCA Men’s Southeast Region Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year in 2011. In 2011, Ziegler and Habazin won national titles in the hammer throw.

Jullien, though, arguably represents the best of Jack’s throwers. In 2005, Jullien was named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year after winning ACC titles in the weight throw and hammer throw and then going on to win the national title in the hammer throw. He added two more national titles the following season and departed Tech as a seven-time All-American – sharing the record for the most All-America nods in school history.

Ziegler also earned seven All-America nods during his career, while Lomnicky and Brittany Pryor earned six and Kruzliak finished his career with five.

Tech’s success in the throwing events came immediately upon Jack’s arrival. In his first year in 2002, he guided Dee O’Connell to the BIG EAST title in the javelin throw. She earned All-America honors and recorded a fifth-place finish at the U.S Championships. O’Connell took fifth place at the 2002 U.S Championships and posted third-place finishes at the 2003 U.S. Championships and the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Jack also has enjoyed successful coaching on the international stage. In 2004, one of his throwers, Kristen Callan, won the hammer throw at the 2004 U.S. Junior Championships and set a meet record with a throw of 193’11” (59.11 meters). She represented the United States at the World Junior Championships that were held in Grosetto, Italy.

Jack once served as a national coach for the country of Trinidad and Tobago. As the national coach, he helped Cleopatra Borel capture her country’s national championship with a new record, as she finished 10th in the shot put finals at the Olympics in Athens, Greece and earned a top-eight world ranking by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

At Tech, Jack has coached a total of 61 All-Americans, 83 NCAA qualifiers, 47 conference champions, 10 conference record holders, and all school throws records are held by Jack’s athletes.

Jack is married to the former Jacquie Keats, a doctor of chiropractics, and they currently reside in Blacksburg. Twin daughters MacKenzie and Morgan were born on Oct. 25, 2007.

The Ottawa, Canada native graduated from Florida State with a bachelor of science in physical education.