Steve Silvey joined the UAH men’s and women’s track & field and cross country programs as assistant coach during the 2021-22 academic year.
Silvey – a veteran in coaching collegiate and international track & field competition – has mentored 28 collegiate national championship squads, 17 Olympic medalists, 21 World Championships medalists and numerous All-Americans at several of the nation’s most prestigious programs.
A 2005 inductee to the National Junior College Hall of Fame, Silvey has a unique quality of having won 19 team championships in the SEC, Big 12 and PAC-10. Individually, his resume boasts 43 World Championship competitors, 36 Olympians and over 100 NJCAA & NCAA All-Americans.
At the international level, Coach Silvey served as the Zambia Olympic Coach for track and field in the 1992 and 1996 Olympiads, and produced its first ever Olympic medal in the sport of track and field with Samuel Matete earing silver in the 400 hurdles. Silvey also served as the head coach for Zambia at the 1993 World Championships.
Among the 17 Olympic Medalists Silvey worked with, Samuel Matete (47.10) and Calvin Davis (47.91) won silver and bronze medals, respectively, in 400 meter hurdles in 1996 while he has coached 22 World Championship medalists. Matete was also the 1991 World Champion in the 400 meter hurdles as well as silver medalist in 1993 and 1995.
Silvey has also coached and recruited Olympic sprinters Tim Montgomery (9.78), Brian Lewis (9.99), Olympic 4x400 relay gold medalist Lamont Smith (44.30) and Darnell Hall (44.34). Hall was also the 1995 World Indoor Champion at 400 meters. Silvey also coached 2000 Olympian and 400 meter hurdler Eric Thomas (47.97). Montgomery set the world record in 2003 for the 100 meters with his 9.78 clocking.
Silvey most recently spent six years as an assistant coach at Mississippi State, where he mentored the program’s hurdlers including 2015 SEC 400-meter hurdles champion Scottie Hearn and two-time All-SEC hurdler Jovan Davis. Three of MSU's six-fastest times in the 400-meter hurdles and two of the top seven in the 110-meter hurdles came under Silvey's watch, as he helped guide the Bulldogs to seventh place at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Prior to Mississippi State, Silvey was at Texas Tech from 2004-07 where he served as Recruiting Coordinator and Assistant Coach. In his time with the Red Raiders, Silvey helped lead the men’s team to its first-ever Big 12 Outdoor Championship in 2005 as well as a runner-up finish at the 2007 Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Silvey’s impact on Texas Tech resulted in nine new school records during his three years with the program.
Before heading to Texas Tech, Silvey assisted at Oregon from 2001-03, and helped in the program’s rise as the Ducks finished second in the 2002 PAC-10 Outdoor Championships prior to winning the 2003 edition for the program’s first conference title in 12 years.
Prior to his arrival in Eugene, Silvey built his reputation at two of the nation's top track and field programs in Arkansas and Blinn College. While at those schools, he was a part of 28 NCAA national team championships, including a stretch of 13 straight years before leaving the Razorbacks after the 2000 outdoor campaign.
As the Sprints/Hurdles/Relays coach at Arkansas from the fall of 1994 through the 2000 outdoor season, he was part of 13 NCAA indoor and outdoor track & field and cross country team titles and 17 SEC team championships. His athletes won 15 All-American honors and 13 outdoor track and field SEC individual titles.
Prior to arriving in Fayetteville, he was a five-time national coach of the year at Blinn College, where his squads won 15 national Championships in seven years. At the Brenham, Texas, institution, Silvey produced 164 All-Americans, 128 individual national champions and 27 relay champions. His cross country program also had success on the big stage, winning the 1993 and 1994 national championships.
Silvey became the first men's coach to ever win the NJCAA Triple Crown in 1993 with National Championships in Indoor Track & Field, Outdoor Track & Field and Cross Country.
Before his stint at Blinn, Silvey served as men’s and women’s assistant track coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M from 1984-87. Silvey helped position the Aggies' rise to national prominence, as A&M finished among the top six NCAA men’s squads twice during his stay.
Silvey also has over 10 years of experience coaching on the high school level in Florida, Iowa, Texas and Louisiana.
Silvey has also published over 25 books on track and field, football speed training, and all-sports speed training, and he also speaks at numerous track and field seminars around the country each year.
A 1980 graduate of Truman State with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science education, he added a master’s degree from Texas A&M in kinesiology in 1987.
