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Tim Vaught is in his third season with the Virginia Tech track and field program as the sprints, hurdles and relays coach, and his group enjoyed a successful 2017 campaign, as Vaught continues to rebuild these areas for the Hokies.

In 2017, Vaught’s sprinters and hurdlers combined to set eight school records, and Michael Davenport was named the ACC Men’s Track and Field Freshman of the Year during the indoor season. Davenport, Greg Chiles and Courtney Blanden headlined the contingent for Vaught during the 2017 season, especially Chiles, a transfer from South Carolina who earned All-America honors as part of Tech’s distance medley relay team that claimed a silver medal at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships. Chiles set the school record in the 400-meter run (46.98) during the indoor season and the 400-meter hurdles (50.39) during the outdoor season. He, Davenport, Brandon Thomas and Drew Piazza set the school mark in the 4x400-meter relay during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

In fact, during the outdoor season, those four set the school record at the ACC Championships in what was the final event of the meet. They finished third and secured enough points to help Tech clinch the team title – the program’s seventh team championship since 2011.

On the women’s side, Blanden, who started as a walk-on, set three school records - in just two years - in the 200 during both the indoor (23.60) and outdoor seasons (23.01) and 400 in the outdoor (52.24). She, Ama-Selina Tchume, Hanna Green and Arlicia Bush also set the school record in the 4x400 during the indoor season (3:37.42).

Chiles earned first-team All-ACC honors in the 200 during the indoor campaign and second-team All-ACC honors in three events during the outdoor season (400 hurdles, 4x100 and 4x400), while he and Thomas earned first-team All-ACC honors as part of the distance medley relay team. Chiles later qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400 hurdles.

Blanden earned All-ACC honors during both seasons, while Nora McKiver, Tchume and Bush earned All-ACC honors during the outdoor season. Those four all qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships as part of the 4x400 relay team as well.

In 2016 under Vaught, McKiver and Darius Watkins led the way. McKiver earned second-team All-ACC honors with a personal-best time of 23.84 seconds in the 200 during the indoor season. She also set personal records in the 60-meter dash (7.72 seconds) and 60-meter hurdles (8.45 seconds) during the indoor season, and set a personal best in the 100 hurdles during the outdoor season (13.73 seconds).

Watkins enjoyed a terrific season, setting personal records in the 60 (6.82) and 200 (21.72) during the indoor season and in the 100 (10.50) and 200 (20.98) during the outdoor season. He scored for the Hokies at the ACC Outdoor Championships, finishing seventh in the 200 and also helping the 4x100-meter relay team finish seventh.

Vaught came to Tech in August of 2015 after serving as the associate head coach at the University of Illinois. Dave Cianelli, Tech’s director of track and field and cross country, hired him to rebuild the sprints and hurdles areas of the program largely because of Vaught’s past successes in those areas.

Vaught has coached eight All-Americans during his career, and more impressively, two Olympians, including former Tech sprinter Darrell Wesh, who has worked with Vaught and qualified for the 2016 Haitian National Team. Wesh ran the 100 at the 2016 Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“Coach Vaught owns an impressive history of success at each program he has been a part of,” Cianelli said at the time of Vaught’s hiring. “His reputation of being a relentless recruiter and outstanding developer of talent makes him a perfect fit for our program. His extensive background of working with football players on the track will really enhance our ability to attract these dual-sport athletes. His areas of responsibility will include the men's and women's sprints, hurdles and relays."

Prior to Vaught’s time at Illinois, he had spent more than a year as an associate head men’s and women’s track and field coach at Coastal Carolina. He helped lead the Chanticleer women to the 2013 Big South indoor title and coached Erica Peake, who earned second-team All-America honors. During the outdoor season, two of the Chanticleers’ relay teams under Vaught earned honorable mention All-America status. In addition, Jessica Gelibert was named Big South Freshman of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Following the 2013 season, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) named Vaught its Southeast Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year. He also received this honor in 2009 and 2012.

From 2008-12, Vaught coached at Charlotte, overseeing the sprints, hurdles and relays areas. While at Charlotte, he was a part of 49er teams that won five indoor conference championships and six outdoor titles. In all, 107 track and field athletes earned All-Atlantic 10 honors while he worked there.

Prior to Charlotte, Vaught opened the P2 Peak Performance Training Center and coached a pair of Olympic Trial automatic qualifiers in the triple jump as well as a 100-meter and 200-meter sprinter. He also helped train NFL athletes and rookies in their preparations for the NFL Combine.

Vaught also spent a year (2006-07) at Florida State University, where he was the multi-event coach and recruiting coordinator. When not helping bring top-rated track recruits to Tallahassee, he helped then-football coach Bobby Bowden as a speed development consultant. During his time in Tallahassee, Vaught signed three high school national champions and was a member of the coaching staff for the Seminoles’ ACC, East Regional and national championship team in 2006.

From 2002-06, Vaught worked as assistant men’s and women’s track coach at Coastal Carolina. In two stints at Coastal Carolina, he was part of five teams that won outdoor conference titles and three that won indoor championships.

Vaught is a 2001 graduate of Western Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in criminal justice. While at Western Carolina, he served as team captain of the track squad during his senior season and earned all-conference honors as a member of the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay teams. He also was a member of the 4x400-meter NCAA Championship qualifying team.

Vaught was a junior-college All-American at Brevard College in North Carolina as a member for the 4x400-meter relay team. After getting his associate’s degree, he transferred to Western Carolina.

When not on the track, Vaught was a member of the Catamount football team. A running back and defensive back by trade, he twice earned letters in football. He got his coaching start at his alma mater as a graduate assistant. While with the Catamounts, he assisted in coaching 11 All-Southern Conference performers, including a pair of 4x400-meter relay teams. He also worked with six conference champions and a national provisional qualifier.