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Blaine Wiley, an 11-time junior college National Assistant Coach of the Year, is in his fifth season as an assistant coach with The University of Alabama track & field staff in 2020. Wiley coaches sprints and hurdles for the Crimson Tide.
In his first four seasons, he has helped guide Alabama to 77 indoor and outdoor All-America honors in the 60m, 60m hurdles, 100m, 110m hurdles, 200, 400m, 400m and 4x400m relays.
Most recently Wiley capped off a 2019 season that saw both the UA men and women achieve top-10 finishes at the indoor and outdoor national championships in the same season for the first time in school history.
Wiley’s leadership was evident in the 2019 season as the Crimson Tide sprints core produced 23 All-America honors between the indoor and outdoor seasons, including an all-time program best women’s 4x400m relay team with Katie Funcheon, Natassha McDonald, Mauricia Prieto and Takyera Roberson at NCAA Outdoors. His student-athletes also excelled in the classroom, with Daija Lampkin, a two-year First Team All-American sprinter for the Tide earning CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in her first year of eligibility.
The 2018 season saw Wiley's sprinters earn indoor and outdoor All-America honors in the 4x400-meter relay and run three of UA's 10 fastest times in the event during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Senior Kaitlin Walker also set an indoor school record in the women's 600 meters and posted two other times that rank among the five-fastest ever run at Alabama.
In 2017 sprinter Jereem Richards turned in one of the greatest seasons in Alabama sprints history. The junior set school records in the indoor and outdoor 200 meters, running five of the 10 fastest indoor times and seven of the 10 fastest outdoor times in the event in school history, anchored UA's school record-setting indoor 4x400-meter relay, took home the 200 meter title at the SEC indoor championships and earned indoor and outdoor All-America honors 200 and the 4x400 relay. Richards capped his season under Wiley by winning a gold medal s a member of Trinidad & Tobago's 4x400-meter relay and a bronze in the 200 meters at the IAAF World Championships in London. Richards was one of 13 current and former Wiley-coached athletes to compete in London.
Wiley pupils Steven Gayle (indoor and outdoor), Alex Gholston (indoor), Takyera Roberson (outdoor) and Domonique Williams (outdoor) also earned All-America honors in the 400 meters and the men's and women's 4x400-meter relays earned All-America honors indoors and outdoors and established new outdoor school records. Williams went on to win the 400 meters at the Trinidad & Tobago national championships that summer and she and Gayle joined Richards at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London, representing Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica, respectively.
Wiley came to Alabama following 10 seasons at South Plains College, one of the nation's best junior college track & field programs. He has a proven record of success on the track and in the classroom, having coached on a staff that led South Plains to 28 NJCAA national team championships while sending more than 70 athletes on to full scholarships at elite NCAA Division I programs.
Wiley also has significant international and Olympic experience, having mentored eight Olympians and 12 IAAF World Championships participants, including three athletes who have won a total of six medals at Worlds.
Wiley was part of an impressive era of success at South Plains during his nine-season tenure (2006-2015). Following his arrival on the staff in 2006, the Texans won 28 NJCAA team national championships, set seven NJCAA national records, produced 107 NJCAA individual and relay national champions and produced seven NJCAA men's and women's National Athletes of the Year (indoor and outdoor). South Plains sent six athletes to compete for their native countries at the 2012 London Olympics, produced one Olympic finalist (Renny Quow, Trinidad & Tobago in the men's 400 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics) and eight IAAF World Championships qualifiers - Quow (2009-11-13, 400, 4x400), LaToy Williams (Bahamas, 2009-11-13, 400, 4x400), Rondell Bartholomew (Grenada, 2011, 400), Jura Levy (Jamaica 2011, 100, 4x100), Janelle Redhead (Grenada, 2011, 200), Shavez Hart (Bahamas, 2013, 100, 4x100), Trevorvano Mackey (Bahamas, 2013, 100, 200, 4x100) and Lestrod Roland (Saint Kitts and Nevis, 2013, 200, 4x100).
During Wiley's time in Levelland, South Plains produced two IAAF World Championships medalists - Quow (Bronze, 400, 2009) and Levy (Silver, 4x100-meter relay, 2011) and two Texans athletes ranked in the top four in the world in the 400 meters in 2009 - Quow (No. 2) and Williams (No. 4). South Plains' 2010 men's outdoor 4x400 relay ranked No. 7 among all colleges and universities in the US, the 2011 men's indoor 4x400 relay ranked No. 3 in the world, the 2012 men's indoor 4x400 (fourth) and South Plains' outdoor 4x400 (12th) ranked among the best in the world. The Texans' 2013 men's 4x100 ranked No. 9 among all colleges/universities in the U.S., the 2014 men's indoor 4x400 ranked No. 15 in the world and the 2014 men's sprint medley relay ranked No. 1 among all U.S. colleges/universities.
As an assistant coach at Texas State from 2002-06, Wiley coached 16 Southland Conference individual and relay champions for the Bobcats, including 112 All-Southland Conference athletes, 28 NCAA Midwest Regional qualifiers, two NCAA national qualifiers, one USATF national semifinalist and two USATF Junior Nationals qualifiers. Wiley coached Texas State athletes to 63 school all-time top 10 performances, eight Texas State school records and two Southland Conference records. Texas State produced seven Southland Conference championship teams over a span of four seasons, including a sweep of the 2004 men's and women's indoor and outdoor titles. Wiley helped lead the Bobcats to a Southland Conference outdoor record points total for the women's team in 2004 (195), coached the Southland Conference Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Track Performer in 2003 and 2004 (indoor and outdoor) and the Southland Conference High Point Athlete in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
Before joining the staff at Texas State, Wiley was a sprinter on the Bobcats' track team from 1997-2000, accomplishing career bests of 10.29 (wind-aided) in the outdoor 100 meters and 6.20 in the indoor 55-meter dash (a time that ranked in the world's top 20 in 2000). As a student-athlete, Wiley was a member of the 1998 and 2000 outdoor conference championship teams. A two-time team captain for the Bobcats, Wiley was also a member of the school-record sprint medley relay team.
Wiley, a native of Round Rock, Texas, graduated from Texas State in May 2000 with a degree in Business Administration and completed a Master's degree in Secondary Education in May 2008. Wiley and his wife, Julie, have two sons, Hayden Blaine Alan, and Landon James. Julie was a track & field letter winner at Texas State from 1996-2000.