Dennis Shaver

Dennis Shaver begins his third season as the head track and field coach at LSU after spending nine years as an assistant on the Tigers’ staff. Shaver, who took over the reigns in July 2004, oversees the direction of both the men’s and women’s programs, while concentrating his efforts with the Tiger and Lady Tiger sprinters and hurdlers.

Widely regarded as one of the premier sprint coaches in all of track and field, Shaver has enjoyed 11 tremendously successful years with the LSU program. During his time in Baton Rouge, Shaver has directed 26 individual NCAA champions and 13 national champion relay teams, while guiding his athletes to a total of 182 All-America awards.

Shaver enjoyed great success in just his second season as the Tigers’ head coach as he guided the men’s team to a pair of national runner-up finishes at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships a year ago, while the youthful women’s team earned a pair of seventh-place showings at the NCAA Championships.

Under Shaver’s watchful eye, former LSU great Xavier Carter won four individual national titles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2006, becoming the first collegiate athlete since Ohio State’s Jesse Owens in 1935 and 1936 to win four NCAA titles at a single national meet. Carter claimed championships in the 100 meters, 400 meters, 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay, and finished his brief two-year career with an incredible seven individual national championships and 10 All-America honors.

Sprint sensation Kelly Willie also capped a stellar career in 2006 by leading the Tigers to three relay national titles while earning a total of five All-America honors in his senior season. Under Shaver’s tutelage, Willie finished his four-year career in Baton Rouge as the most decorated athlete in the history of LSU men’s track and field, tying Carter with a school record seven individual national titles and an LSU best 19 All-America honors.

LSU's men's and women's relay teams proved to be an unbeatable force throughout the 2006 season, sweeping 4x400 national titles at the NCAA Championships during the indoor and outdoor seasons and the men claiming a national championship in the 4x100 at the outdoor meet. In all, 12 of Shaver's athletes won individual national titles in eight different events in addition to a total of 23 All-America honors in 2006.

In his first season at the helm, Shaver led his teams to a pair of Top-10 national finishes and a total of 14 All-America honors. The season was capped by an exceptional effort at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that resulted in a new collegiate record and national title in the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

Under Shaver’s tutelage, the Tiger foursome of Reggie Dardar, Kelly Willie, Bennie Brazell and Xavier Carter clocked a lightning-fast 2:59.59 in shattering the 17-year-old record. The NCAA title catapulted the Tigers to a third-place finish in the final team standings, an effort that was assisted by national runner-up efforts by Bennie Brazell and Xavier Carter in the 400 hurdles and the 200 meters, respectively.

During the indoor season, the women’s squad shined at the NCAA Championships, recording a sixth-place team finish. Seniors Hazelann Regis and Neisha Bernard-Thomas were the cornerstone of the Lady Tigers’ efforts, earning runner-up honors in the 400 meters and 800 meters, respectively, while also anchoring the 4x400-meter relay squad to another All-America honor.

The 2004 season proved to be another remarkable year for athletes under Shaver’s tutelage as sprint sensation Muna Lee became just the fourth athlete in NCAA history, and the first Lady Tiger to win back-to-back titles in the 60-meter dash. Under Shaver’s watch, Lee then anchored the Lady Tigers to their third straight NCAA title in the 4x100 relay as the foursome of Neisha Bernard-Thomas, Hazelann Regis, Monique Hall and Nadia Davy captured the national title with a new collegiate meet record time in the 4x400 relay. The 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400-meter relays have all set NCAA records during Shaver’s tenure at LSU.

After the conclusion of the NCAA Championships, Shaver focused on the training of his athletes for the Olympic Trials, where a total of six LSU athletes made their respective Olympic teams and competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Shaver coached Lee to a sweep of the 60-meter and 200-meter dash titles at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2003 en route to shattering the 21-year-old collegiate record in the 200 meters. In addition, hurdler Lolo Jones was crowned the NCAA champion in the 60-meter hurdles.

Shaver also guided the Lady Tigers to their second 4x100 relay title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in three years, while leading Lee to runner-up honors in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Not to be overlooked was the performance of Davy as she finished a very close third in the 400 meters with a time of 50.66.

In addition, LSU dominated the sprints at the prestigious Penn Relays, winning the 4x100, 4x200, sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relay titles. The Lady Tigers’ 4x200 team also became the first and only women’s relay team to ever clock a sub-1:30.00 performance in the event. The collegiate record time of 1:29.78 still ranks as the third-fastest time ever recorded in the world.

In 2002, Shaver guided Lee to the first individual NCAA title of her career as she captured the indoor 200-meter crown, breaking the NCAA meet record previously held by former Lady Tiger Peta-Gaye Dowdie. Sprinter Stephanie Durst and hurdler Lolo Jones also made considerable improvements throughout the year. Improving her 200-meter time by nearly a full second, Durst captured the SEC title as well as a third-place finish at the NCAA meet, while Jones just missed her first NCAA crown as she finished second in the 100-meter hurdles at the outdoor nationals. In all, the Lady Tigers sprinters accounted for 12 All-America accolades and seven SEC titles over the course of the season.

Shaver developed a young and inexperienced sprinting corps into one of the hottest up-and-coming groups in the nation in 2001. Lee exploded onto the scene and became only the second freshman to ever sweep the sprint titles at the SEC Outdoor Championships and only the second freshman to ever win the 100-meter dash at the prestigious Penn Relays. Lee went on to post a trio of top-five finishes in the individual competition at the NCAA Championships and anchored the Lady Tigers to their third NCAA 4x100-meter relay title in six years under Shaver.

In 2000, he guided Dowdie to the NCAA title in the 200 meters, as well as runner-up honors in both the 60-meter and 100-meter sprints. Dowdie finished her career as a 19-time All-American in four years under Shaver, which is the second-highest total of any woman in LSU history. Shaver also coached Joyce Bates to her second individual national title that same year as she won the 100-meter hurdles to become the third different Lady Tiger to win an NCAA title in the event under Shaver’s guidance.

Shaver joined the LSU staff in August 1995 after serving four seasons as an assistant coach at Auburn where he designed training programs for the Tigers’ field and multi-event athletes. Prior to his tenure at Auburn, Shaver served as head coach for both the men’s and women’s track and field programs at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan. His men’s and women’s teams captured all 12 of the conference’s indoor and outdoor titles in his six seasons at Barton.

He also led the Barton women’s team to eight national championships, including three indoor, three outdoor and two cross country crowns. During the 1990-91 season, Shaver’s women’s team captured the first “National Triple Crown” in junior college history, winning the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track titles in that seasons.

Shaver has earned national recognition for his many accomplishments throughout his coaching career. In 2003, he was recognized by his peers as the first USTCA Assistant Coach of the Year for Women’s Sprints/Hurdles. In addition, he has received seven National Coach of the Year awards, six Kansas Collegiate Coach of the Year honors and 12 Regional Coach of the Year awards.

Shaver is certified as a Level I, II and Master Coach by USA Track and Field and is a regular instructor for the USATF Coaches Education curriculum of the sprint and hurdle events.

A native of Salina, Kansas, Shaver earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1979. In 1981, he added a master's degree in education with an emphasis on administration from Stephen F. Austin State University. Shaver and his wife, Connie, have two children, Dale (23) and Lindsay (20), who finished her sophomore year at LSU last year with academic honors before transferring to Southeastern Louisiana University to pursue a degree in neonatal intensive care nursing.