NORMAL, Ill.- Illinois State University Athletics is excited to announce the latest addition to its coaching staff. Director of Track and Field and Cross Country, Jeff Bovee, welcomes Jake Jacoby as the new assistant coach for the horizontal jumps and multis.
"I'm very excited to be here with a good group of athletes that I will be working with and with a great attitude as well. I can see success in the future, thanking coach Bovee and the rest of the staff," said Jacoby.
"Very pleased to welcome Jake to the Redbird coaching staff! In the search, it became clear that Jake's success not only as a jumper on the world stage, but more importantly, his enormous success coaching collegiately that he was the right person to take our student-athletes to the next level said Bovee". "His innate ability to develop positive relationships and foster trust will serve him well in cultivating a culture of success with our jumpers and combined event student-athletes".
Jacoby will oversee the Redbird jumpers after serving seven seasons with the University of Louisville where he coached two National Champions and many All-Americans and a Big East championship. He also spent four seasons as an assistant with the Boise State track and field program where he coached 12 individual Western Athletic Conference champions, three NCAA All-Americans, four school record holders and was in the Broncos' 2004 conference title coaching staff. A NCAA National jumps coach of the year, NCAA Reginal coach of the year, and a USATF performance coach. Jacoby was also a standout student-athlete at Boise State becoming the school's first national champion in track and field winning the NCAA high jump title in 1984 as well as earning All-American honors all four years he competed.
Along with being successful at the collegiate level in the high jump, Jacoby had similar success at the international level for several years. Jacoby participated in three U.S. Olympic Trials finishing sixth twice (1984 and 1988) and ninth in 1992. He was a member of the U.S. at the World Championships team in 1989 placing seventh with a jump of 7-5.75. In 1987 he was an alternate on the United States team to the World Championships. His all-time indoor high jump personal best is 7-7.25 (2.32m), while his personal best outdoors is 7-7 (2.31m).
A 1985 graduate of Boise State, Jacoby's best collegiate mark in the high jump was 7 feet, 6 inches (2.29m) in 1984. He is an eight-time Big Sky Conference champion winning the high jump title seven times, and his name is also etched in the Big Sky Conference record books. In 1983, Jacoby ran a time of 7.14 in the 55-meter hurdles, which continues to be the all-time mark in the conference.
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