MANHATTAN, Kan. – Travis Geopfert, a four-time National Assistant Coach of the Year during two stints at national powerhouse Arkansas, was announced as K-State’s seventh full-time Director of Track and Field/Cross Country by Director of Athletics Gene Taylor on Thursday (July 11).
Geopfert agreed to a 5-year contract, which was approved by the K-State Athletics, Inc., Board of Directors and President Richard Linton.
Geopfert will be formally introduced to the public during a news conference on Monday, July 15 at 11 a.m., CT in the Steel and Pipe Team Theatre at the Vanier Football Complex. A live stream of the news conference can be viewed on the K-State Sports Facebook page.
“It is an exciting time for K-State Track and Field as we welcome Travis, Nicole, Jones, Jax and Ellyn to the Wildcat Family,” Taylor said. “The sustained success during Coach Rovelto’s hall of fame career and the recent facility upgrades for our program made this a very attractive job - sought after by many phenomenal candidates. Travis’ recent success at one of the top track and field programs in the country certainly speaks for itself, but he also has strong Midwest roots, head coaching experience and a tremendous ability to recruit globally. He will coach eight Olympians in this year’s Paris games, and we are excited for the future of K-State Track and Field under his leadership.”
Geopfert, a native of Panora, Iowa, has 22 years of coaching experience, including 12 at Arkansas, where he was a part of two NCAA Championship teams (2013 men’s indoor and 2023 men’s indoor), 21 top-10 NCAA team finishes and 25 SEC Championships as an assistant men’s track and field and cross country coach (2009-18) and associate head coach of the men’s track and field and cross country teams (2021-24).
A 2002 graduate of Northern Iowa, where he was a three-time Missouri Valley Conference champion and All-American, Geopfert got his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Central Missouri (2002-03) for head coach Kip Janvrin. He returned to his alma mater in 2003 for the start of a 6-year stint, where he rose from an assistant track and field coach (2003-07) to associate head coach (2007-08) to head coach (2008-09). He was part of 12 Missouri Valley Conference team championships while at UNI, including the 2009 men’s indoor and outdoor titles as head coach. For his efforts, he was named the 2009 MVC Outdoor Coach of the Year.
In between his two stints at Arkansas, Geopfert spent three years (2018-21) as the associate head coach for the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams at Tennessee under head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan, helping the Volunteer men’s team to a top-10 NCAA finish at the 2021 indoor championships.
All told, Geopfert has been part two NCAA team championships, 24 top-10 NCAA team finishes and 37 conference team championships (MVC, SEC) during his 22-year coaching career at Central Missouri, Northern Iowa, Arkansas and Tennessee.
“My family and I are thrilled to become part of the Kansas State community,” said Geopfert. “Just look at every named facility on campus and it’s obvious that family and community are the framework of Kansas State. That may be the biggest thing that attracted us to Manhattan.
“I’d like to thank Gene Taylor, (executive associate AD) Kenny Lannou and (deputy AD) Jill Shields for giving me this opportunity to lead such a storied program - a program with multiple Olympians, Olympic medalists and NCAA champions, led for more than three decades by hall of fame coach Cliff Rovelto.
“It’s not lost on me the shoes that I’m trying to fill in following a legendary coach. Coach Rovelto has built a foundation at Kansas State that makes this one of the most attractive opportunities in NCAA track and field. With that, I promise to work tirelessly for the alumni and current student-athletes here at Kansas State. I want to help make all of these individuals proud of where they are from. They built the foundation for our future success, and we owe it to them and this administration to get after it here with everything we’ve got.
“With that said, I cannot express enough appreciation to Gene Taylor for handing me the reigns here in Manhattan. His reputation precedes him in making great coaching hires. I’m humbled that he believes in me to continue to move this program forward.
“Lastly, I’d like to thank my former student-athletes, bosses and colleagues at Central Missouri, Northern Iowa, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The last 22 years learning from all of them has given me the foundation I need to coach and mentor at the highest level. These coaching experiences along with the amazing support of my wife Nicole, our kids and my entire family gives me the confidence I need to be the next Director of Track and Field / Cross Country at K-State.”
Individually, Geopfert coached three Bowerman Award finalists (track and field’s version of the Heisman Trophy) while at Arkansas, including a pair of winners in sprinter and long jumper Jarrion Lawson (2016) and triple and long jumper Jaydon Hibbert (2023) as well as 2022 finalist Ayden Owens-Delerme. In total, he has helped train 20 national champions (a combined 12 in the long and triple jump) in his career as well as 106 NCAA First Team All-Americans, 182 NCAA National Finals Qualifiers and 89 conference champions.
Geopfert has coached 15 Olympians, including eight who have advanced to this summer’s Paris Games. Those eight Olympians include Romaine Beckford (high jump/Jamaica), Tara Davis-Woodhall (long jump/USA), Jaydon Hibbert (triple jump/Jamaica), Jarrion Lawson (long jump/USA), Carey McLeod (long jump/Jamaica), Jah-Nhai Perinchief (triple jump/Bermuda), Ayden Owens-Delerme (decathlon/Puerto Rico) and Wayne Pinnock (long jump/Jamaica).
In total, Geopfert’s athletes have qualified for the World Championships 30 times with five global medals. They have broken three American Junior records, three World Junior records, two NCAA all-time collegiate records and two NCAA meet records. They have combined to break 59 school records at Northern Iowa, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Geopfert was part of tremendous success at Arkansas where he worked for his college head coach and 30-time SEC Coach of the Year Chris Bucknam, first as assistant coach for the men’s and women’s teams from 2009-18 then as associate head coach for the men’s team from 2021-24.
The Razorbacks won the 2013 and 2023 NCAA team Indoor Championships, while they finished as the national team runners-up on six occasions (2012, 2014, 2016 and 2024 indoor seasons and 2016 and 2023 outdoor seasons). They also won 25 SEC team championships in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field, including a sweep of the indoor and outdoor titles on six occasions (2012, 2013, 2016, 2022, 2023, 2024). The school earned the prestigious John McDonnell Program of the Year honor in both 2013 and 2017 which goes annually to the top overall cross country and track and field program.
Geopfert coached all three of Arkansas’ Bowerman Award finalists, including winners Jarrion Lawson (2016) and Jaydon Hibbert (2023), as well as 2022 finalist Ayden Owens-Delerme.
A two-time Olympian, Lawson won six NCAA championships with the Razorbacks, including the “Jesse Owens triple” with titles in the 100 and 200 meters and long jump at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Hibbert was the 2023 Outdoor National Field co-Athlete of the Year as well as the 2023 Indoor and Outdoor National Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year, setting both the indoor and outdoor collegiate marks in the triple jump while sweeping both NCAA Championships. Owens-Delerme was the 2022 NCAA Outdoor National Field Athlete of the Year after winning the NCAA title in the decathlon.
Geopfert coached seven other national champions at Arkansas, including two-time triple jump champion Clive Pullen (2016, 2017 indoor) and two-time long jump champion Carey McLeod (2023 indoor and outdoor). This past season, Romaine Beckford swept the indoor and outdoor high jump titles, while Wayne Pinnock won the 2024 indoor long jump championship.
Geopfert was honored four times as the USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year while on staff at Arkansas following the 2013, 2014 and 2023 men’s indoor seasons and the 2023 men’s outdoor season. He was also selected as the South Central Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year on seven occasions (2013, 2014, 2017, 2022, 2023 (indoor and outdoor), 2024).
In addition to his coaching honors at Arkansas, Geopfert was named the 2020 South Region Men’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year at Tennessee, the 2007 and 2008 Midwest Region Men’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year at Northern Iowa and the 2003 Division II Central Region Men’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year at Central Missouri. He was the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Coach of the Year at UNI.
In between his stints at Arkansas, Geopfert spent three seasons at Tennessee from 2018-21 as associate head coach for the men’s and women’s teams under head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan. Most notably he guided Carey McLeod to the long jump crown and a runner-up finish in the triple jump at the 2020 SEC Indoor Championship.
Geopfert also coached two-time Bowerman watch list member and high jumper Darryl Sullivan, who tied the all-time SEC indoor record and posted the No. 4 collegiate mark in indoor history with a height of 2.33 m/7-7.75.
McLeod and Sullivan had NCAA-leading marks in the long jump and high jump, respectively, before the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Prior to his first stint with the Razorbacks, Geopfert spent six years at his alma mater Northern Iowa, first as an assistant track and field coach (2003-07) to associate head coach (2007-08) to head coach (2008-09). He was part of 12 MVC championship teams, including a sweep of the 2009 men’s indoor and outdoor titles in his lone season as head coach. The 2007 and 2008 teams placed in the top-10 at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Notable athletes coached by Geopfert at UNI included 2008 MVC women’s most outstanding track athlete Dani Stipe and five-time All-Americans Raven Cepeda and Cody Eichmeier. Stipe was the first female athlete in UNI history to qualify for the NCAA Championship in the heptathlon, while Cepeda still holds the conference and school records in both the heptathlon and decathlon. Eichmeier was a nine-time conference champion in the long jump and the 2005 MVC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year.
In his lone season at Central Missouri, Geopfert helped coach two-time national champion Ivan Varbanov, who won the 2003 Division II indoor high jump and triple jump titles, as well as one national runner-up, six All-Americans, seven national qualifiers, five conference champions and 10 all-conference performers.
Geopfert enjoyed a notable career of his own as a combined events athlete and sprinter at Northern Iowa from 1997-2002. While competing for the Panthers, he won the decathlon at the 1998 Missouri Valley Conference Championship and was part of multiple conference-winning relay teams, including the 1999 4x100-meter relay and 2000 indoor distance medley relay teams. He earned 2000 Indoor All-American honors in the distance medley relay with a seventh-place finish. He was a four-time All-MVC performer (1997, 1998 indoor and outdoor) as well as a two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete (1999, 2000).
Upon graduation, Geopfert finished as the runner-up in the 2003 Drake Relays decathlon, behind USA Olympian Kip Janvrin before winning the event in both 2004 and 2006. He was a five-time national qualifier at the USATF Indoor and Outdoor Championships while also qualifying for the 2004 Olympic Trials.
Geopfert was also a member of the U.S. vs Germany decathlon Thorpe Cup duel teams in 2003, 2005 and 2006, where he was coached by former by K-State Director of Track and Field / Cross Country Cliff Rovelto. He returned to the Thorpe Cup in 2009 for the first of three stints as head decathlon coach (2009, 2013, 2014).
While in high school, Geopfert was a seven-time state champion at Panorama High School.
Geopfert and wife Nicole have three children, Jones, Jax and Ellyn.
Coaching Experience
- Graduate assistant (Men’s and Women’s), Central Missouri (2002-03)
- Assistant Track and Field Coach (Men’s and Women’s), Northern Iowa (2003-07)
- Associate Head Track and Field Coach (Men’s and Women’s), Northern Iowa (2007-08)
- Head Track and Field Coach (Men’s and Women’s), Northern Iowa (2008-09)
- Assistant Track and Field Coach (Men’s), Arkansas (2009-18)
- Associate Head Track and Field Coach (Men’s and Women’s), Tennessee (2018-21)
- Associate Head Track and Field Coach (Men), Arkansas (2021-24)
- Director of Cross Country and Track and Field, Kansas State (2024-present)
Coaching Honors
- 4-time USTFCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year (Arkansas)
(2013, 2014, 2023 men’s indoor and 2023 men’s outdoor)
- 5-time USTFCCA South Central Region Men’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year (Arkansas)
(2013, 2014, 2017, 2023, 2024).
- 2-time USTFCCA South Central Region Men’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year (Arkansas)
(2022, 2023)
- 1-time USTFCCA South Region Men’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year (Tennessee)
(2020)
- 2-time USTFCCA Midwest Region Men’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year (Northern Iowa)
(2007, 2008)
- 1-time USTFCAA Division II Central Region Men’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year (Central Missouri)
(2003)
- 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Coach of the Year (Northern Iowa)
- 3-time USA vs. Germany Thorpe Cup decathlon head coach
(2009, 2013, 2014)
Athlete Honors
- 1998 Missouri Valley Conference decathlon champion
- 1999 Missouri Valley Conference 4x100-meter relay champion
- 2000 Missouri Valley Conference indoor distance medley relay champion
- 2000 NCAA Indoor All-American (distance medley relay)
- 4-time All-Missouri Valley Conference performer (1997, 1998 indoor and outdoor)
- 2-time Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete (1999, 2000)
- 2004, 2006 Drake Relay decathlon champion
- 5-time national qualifier at the USATF Indoor and Outdoor Championships
- 2004 Olympic Trials qualifier
- 3-time member of the U.S. vs. Germany decathlon Thorpe Teams
(2003, 2005, 2006)
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in general studies, University of Northern Iowa, 2002
Personal
- Born: August 20, 1978, in Panora, Iowa
- Wife: Nicole
- Children: sons Jones and Jax and daughter Ellyn