Keith Herston - Assistant Coach - Jumps/Multis - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Keith Herston

Title:
Assistant Coach - Jumps/Multis
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Outdoor 2022 Mountain Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year

Keith Herston is entering his 4th season with Texas Tech in 2024-25.

When it comes to the 2024 season, Ruta Lasmane captured her first NCAA title, winning the indoor meet, in the process giving coach Herston his first NCAA champion. Meanwhile, freshman high jumper Temitope Adeshina garnered national and global attention. She capped off her first season as a Red Raider owning both the indoor and outdoor high jump school records, becoming a 1st Team All-American in both seasons. At the NCAA indoor meet she placed fourth, while finishing third at the outdoor meet.

The 2023 season culminated in three Big 12 champions in the triple jump along with five All-Americans, with three being on the 1st Team. Outdoors, Ruta Lasmane and Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta placed inside the top-10 of the triple jump as Lasmane finished third, while Foster-Katta placed seventh.

Herston's jump and multis group saw tremendous success in 2022 as a total of eight Red Raiders were named 1st Team All-Americans, including six Big 12 champions. During the NCAA Indoor meet, Monae' Nichols placed 2nd in the long jump as Ruth Usoro went on to place 5th. Meanwhile, at the NCAA Outdoor meet, Ruta Lasmane led the way in the triple jump placing 2nd, while Usoro was right behind her in 3rd as Nichols finished 4th in the long jump. Over on the men's side, Chris Welch placed 6th in the triple jump despite going into the meet seeded 8th. He was named the 2022 Mountain Region Field Athlete of the Year.

Keith Herston is in his first season as the Assistant Coach for Jumps and Multis after being named to the position in July of 2021. Herston comes to West Texas after working as an Assistant Coach at Florida State since 2017.

Herston will serve as the assistant coach for men's and women's horizontal jumps at the 2021 World University Games in China, which is being rescheduled to next year.

In four years at Florida State, Herston's athletes have compiled 11 All-America honors, nine individual ACC titles and over 50 All-ACC performances. In addition, his Seminoles have launched an assault on the program's elite top-10 all-time performance leader boards.

Throughout his career, Herston has coached three Olympians, two World Championship finalists, one NCAA Champion and 38 All-Americans. His athletes have set 24 school records and recorded three NCAA top-10 all-time performances. He has coached Jogaile Petrokaite to three Lithuanian long jump championships and the Latvian national champion. Ruta Lasmane won the Latvian title in the triple jump this year.

Herston had just completed his fourth season in Tallahassee before agreeing to make the move to join Kittley's staff in Lubbock. During his time there, his jumps, pole vault and multis groups were major players in six ACC titles – four men's titles and two women's – claimed by the Seminoles. His jumpers helped lead the Florida State men's team to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2019, and later that year his athletes made big contributions to a women's team that placed 10^th outdoors.

Most recently, his groups were responsible for 37 of Florida State's dominant 136 points at the 2021 ACC Outdoor Championships. Two of is men's jumpers, Isaac Grimes and Jordan Wesner, would score at last month's NCAA Outdoor Championships, with Grimes securing a silver medal while the men's team placed 10th. Freshman Ruta Lasmane's fifth-place finish contributed to the women's team's 14th-place finish. Prior to his arrival in Tallahassee, Herston was responsible for developing 27 All-Americans, 38 individual conference champions and 21 school record-holders in eight full-time seasons as an assistant with stops at Sam Houston State, Texas State and Miami (FL). He was a part of six conference championship teams, while also producing a pair of 2016 Olympic pole vaulters.

Herston has worked and learned alongside some of the very best over the course his coaching career, which began in earnest after graduating from Alabama in 2007, where he was a walk-on long jumper. An SEC Academic Honor Roll selection, he earned his undergraduate degree in human environmental science. He joined the Auburn staff as a volunteer assistant in 2008 while pursuing his masters in kinesiology. There he worked alongside Jerry Clayton, currently the head coach at Michigan, assisting with the throws, jumps, combined events, sprints and hurdles. While at Auburn he earned his master's of education in kinesiology.

Herston lists former Texas Tech assistant and current UCF head coach Dana Boone, as one of his mentors. He also cites the legendary Auburn coach Ralph Spry, USA Track & Field jumps coach Jeremy Fischer and USTFCCCA Hall of Fame coach Amy Deem at Miami.

A native of Greenhill, Ala., Herston holds USATF Levels 1 and 2 certifications and is GAIN Network certified.

He is and his wife, the former Tina Valenzuela, were joined by their first daughter, Callie.