Florida State University Athletics
Matt Kane Named FSU Track and Field Head Coach
7/6/2024 12:23:00 PM | Track and Field
TALLAHASSEE – Florida State University Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford announced Friday the hiring of Matt Kane as Director of Track and Field at FSU. Kane, an assistant at FSU since 2019, succeeds former head coach Bob Braman who announced his retirement in May after leading the program for 21 seasons.
"I'm excited and proud to have Matt assuming leadership of Seminoles track and field," said Alford. "Not only is he recognized as one of the finest track coaches internationally, but he is also uniquely qualified to lead our program in our quest to return to the top of the podium nationally and on the conference level."
Kane, who recently completed his fifth year as a member of FSU's coaching staff working with the women's sprints and men's and women's hurdles, has been part of four Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships at FSU. Over more than two decades of coaching experience he has produced an impressive list of accomplishments including nine NCAA individual champions, an IAAF world champion and 42 first-team All-Americans. He also served as Panama's head coach for the 2009 South American Championships and the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
"I'm humbled and honored to be given the responsibility of taking over a program that has been led so well by my predecessor and the man that brought me to Florida State, Bob Braman," said Kane. "My goal is to produce a program that succeeds at a level that honors the legacy I inherit from Bob, Terry Long, Dick Roberts, Gary Winckler, Mike Long and Ken Miller, all of whom created and nurtured a program that has an established standard of success on the national level. I hope to succeed at a level that reflects that tremendous standard."
Kane has proven head coaching experience through his impressive record as a national championship junior college head coach (Barton County JC) and is an accomplished recruiter and builder of championship student-athletes at the top level of collegiate track. He has served stints as an assistant coach at Oklahoma, Alabama and FSU.
"Our search committee reviewed an excellent pool of more than 40 candidates, including several current head coaches and others considered the 'best of the best' in their disciplines in collegiate track and field," said Alford. "Matt has a vision for leading FSU track and field elite. His experience coaching both men and women, his deep experience in the collegiate realm, and his understanding of the realities and possibilities of our program made the difference. He embraces this challenge and feels – as we do - that FSU can be elite."
Under Kane's direction this past season, he led sprinter Shenese Walker to a successful indoor campaign that cumulated with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, tying the sixth-fastest time in school history at 7.19 in the 60-meter dash. Walker secured first-team All-America recognition for the first time in her career and tied for the sixth-fastest time while posting the highest Seminole finish since 2019 when Ka'Tia Seymour placed third.
His group had eight podium finishes at the 2024 ACC Outdoor Championships, led by Dajaz DeFrand in the 100-meter dash, 200 and 4x100 meter relay. DeFrand was also named the ACC Most Valuable Performer for the indoor and outdoor conference meet after pulling off a double victory, scoring a
combined total of 38 points. DeFrand set a 100-meter dash school and conference record of 10.94 seconds and set the outdoor conference record in the 200 at 22.34.
Alexandra Webster set a program in the 100-meter hurdles at 12.70, and the group included four additional athletes boasting top five all-time performances throughout the season. Kane's group scored 68 total points for Florida State at the ACC Outdoor Championships. He led five athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with one first-team All-American. Kane concluded the 2024 season coaching five athletes with ties to Florida State at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
In 2022, former FSU standout Trey Cunningham had one of the most successful seasons in college history under Kane's guidance, winning national titles in both the 60-meter hurdles and 110-meter hurdles while producing the second- fastest times in collegiate history in both events. Cunningham won The Bowerman Award, college track and field's most prestigious honor, for his efforts and was one of the three finalists for the USTFCCCA Performer of the Year as he finished his final season ranked first among collegiate hurdlers. Unbeaten against collegiate competition, Cunningham set the ACC 60-meter hurdles record (7.38 seconds) and became the first five-time ACC champion in the event.
That same year, Kane helped Eddidong Odiong to a successful season as a national qualifier in three events as she produced the second-fastest 100-meter dash time in school and conference history. Kane led his athletes to post 10 FSU top-10 all-time indoor marks, including four in the men's 60 hurdles, during the 2022 season. In 2021, Kane helped the Seminoles capture two individual titles at the ACC Indoor Championship and led three sprinters to All-America honors.
Prior to coaching at FSU, Kane coached professionally for four years with Axis Athletics in Austin, Texas, serving as a consultant for adidas. Kane led 12 pro athletes to world athletic national records and coached one of the most prominent athletes in Trinidad & Tobago history, seven-time World Champion finalist and a Commonwealth Champion Michelle Lee-Ahye. In total, he guided 18 athletes to World Championships final appearances in their respective events.
Kane's tenure at FSU is his third assistant coaching stint at the major college level following tenures at The University of Oklahoma (2009-11) and The University of Alabama (2011-15). At Oklahoma he served as the men's sprints and hurdles coach and produced an NCAA champion, five All-Americans, three Big 12 individual titles and three program records. In 2011/2012 he was named Midwest Region Men's Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year. The Sooners' Ronnie Ash claimed the 2010 NCAA Indoor title in the 60-meter hurdles, sweeping the Big 12 titles and setting program records in the 60- and 110-meter hurdles. Mookie Salaam won the Big 12 crown and earned All-America honors in both the indoor and outdoor 200 and the 100 outdoors.
In 2011 he joined Alabama's coaching staff as sprints and hurdles coach where he earned the 2013 USTFCCCA South Region Assistant Coach of the Year while helping the Crimson Tide to an 11th place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Alabama's 4x100-meter relay of Diondre Batson, Alex Sanders, Akeem Haynes and Dushane Farrier finished as national-runners up. During the 2014 campaign, Kane led the men's program to a 6th place indoor team finish behind Diondre Batson's NCAA Championship in the 200 meters and third place in the 60 meter dash. At that same championship, Remona Burchell claimed the NCAA title in the women's 60 meter dash and another national championship in the women's 100 meters. In Kane's final season, Burchell would break a 14-year-old collegiate record in the 60 (7.08 seconds) enroute to another national title.
Kane's first head coaching assignment was at Barton County (Kan.) Community College from 2006-09 where he led BCCC to the 2006 Men's and Women's Indoor team national titles and was named the 2009 NJCAA National's Men's Coach of the Year. Under his guidance, three BCCC athletes qualified for the finals at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, where he coached gold medalist Ryan Brathwaite and 200-meter silver medalist Alonso Edward. Kane's athletes accumulated 32 individual and relay NJCAA national titles, earned 158 NJCAA All-America honors, set four NJCAA national records and finished as national runners-up in the team standings seven times.
Prior to BCCC, Kane served as an assistant coach at Butler (Kan.) Community College from 2001-05 after starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Community Health in 1999.
Kane and his wife Diana have a son, Lucas, and a daughter, Emily.
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