* Three-time Olympic medalist and 4x100 World Record holder Carmelita Jeter (right) is an assistant track and field coach at the University of Alabama
Photo Credit: University of Alabama athletics
"I wanted to be someone who could come in and open the door and keep it open for the next woman." -- Carmelita Jeter
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By Cory Mull - MileSplit
To say that life is hitting Carmelita Jeter different these days would be a mild understatement.
Last week, the University of Alabama assistant coach and three-time Olympic medalist delayed a phone call in order to scurry home before a tornado struck in and around Tuscaloosa.
"I kept hearing this siren, and then it was, 'Whose car alarm keeps going off?' Jeter recounted. "I didn't know it was a doggone tornado watch. I don't play with that. So I said, 'Let's get my butt home.'"
Safe to say, Jeter avoided that mild heart attack.
But in other ways, the winds of change have been incredibly good for the 41-year-old, who is quickly becoming a force in coaching circles.
For one of United States Track and Field's most successful sprinters of the modern century, a woman who still is known as 'the fastest woman alive,' perhaps that's a little bit of a surprise.
Jeter says she never expected herself to get into this side of the sport.
But in the four years since she finally said yes to the coaching industry, earning her first job at Missouri State, and up to now, the California native -- who graduated from Bishop Montgomery in 1997 -- has begun to embrace the next phase of her professional journey.
Much like her sprinting days, she is fast becoming a woman to watch out for.
Her entry into the world of coaching couldn't come at a better time. As Women's History Month draws to a close, Jeter's story resonates for a lot of reasons.
"Watch every step that I take and pay attention to the steps. I wasn't the fastest woman alive overnight. I won't be an NCAA champion coach overnight. I just need more women coaches to understand that it will be a process, like anything."
A recent Tucker Center report detailed the economics of female coaches in NCAA Division I, and in track and field just 18-percent of programs are being led by women. Track and field and cross country are two of eight sports that were listed an 'F' grade by the organization, which tracks women's influence in sport.
Jeter isn't trying to solve that issue by herself.
But she's also using her figure and reputation at the highest of levels to help women grow in places of leadership. She says she currently mentors a select few women in the industry -- across all sports.
"When I talk to female coaches, the No. 1 thing I hear from several women is that they feel depleted, or feel like they aren't seen," Jeter said. "So the No. 1 thing I tell anyone who watches me and strives to be where I'm at, is that they watch the process.
"Watch every step that I take and pay attention to the steps. I wasn't the fastest woman alive overnight. I won't be an NCAA champion coach overnight. I just need more women coaches to understand that it will be a process, like anything."
Thankfully enough, representation in the sport is beginning to change. In March, Diljeet Taylor, the associate director of women's cross country and track and field at BYU, won her first NCAA Championship.
In 2018, University of Southern California's Caryl Smith Gilbert, the director of track and field for the Trojans, claimed another for the women's program.
Success tells its own story, Jeter says.
She's not alone at Alabama. She mentions women's volunteer assistant cross country coach Samantha Palmer, whose Crimson Tide saw junior Mercy Chelangat win her first NCAA individual cross country title.
Sophomore Amaris Tyynismaa finished third overall, helping Alabama finish eighth overall in the team standings. Jeter was anxiously watching the event unfold in real time on Twitter.
Recently, Alabama sprinter Tamara Clark was fourth overall at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, too.
"Watching Caryl and Diljeet, it should be nothing but motivation," Jeter said. "To know it can be done. To know you can one day get the opportunity when that time comes."
Sometimes, though, Jeter does have to snap her fingers.
After a 10-year career that saw her win an Olympic gold medal and set a World Record in London in the 4x100, a silver in the 100m and a bronze in the 200m -- along with three World Championship gold medals and an overall PR of 10.64 seconds for 100 meters -- and Jeter is here now? A coach?
She's shifted into a role she never thought she'd be in.
"I'm going to be honest," Jeter said. "Coach is not something I wanted to get into."
But perhaps coaching found her.
The Cal State University Dominguez Hills legend originally planned to move into the managerial side of the track and field business after her retirement in 2017, but in the year after hanging up the spikes, a phone call brought her back in.
"I remember getting a call from my agent at the time," Jeter said.
The ask was pretty simple: Could you help one of the agency's athletes?
Jeter sank her teeth into the request. On one hand, coaching wasn't an avenue she wanted to get into. On the other, it was hard to walk away from.
"People kept asking me, 'Hey Jet, can you help me with this? Hey Jet, can you help me with my start?' It started turning into me doing more coaching than managing."
Jeter didn't hesitate.
"For a few weeks, we were able to get some things back together," she remembered of her work with that athlete, a professional sprinter who ran internationally for Ivory Coast. "I was fortunate to help her do some amazing things."
When Jeter looks back, that's the moment where it all clicked.
It wasn't long before she was on the NCAA coaching portal, of all places, looking for jobs. Which might be odd to hear. Why didn't she use her connections to land a Power 5 job?
But in Jeter's head, she didn't want anything handed to her.
Her agent at Total Sports helped her facilitate a move that felt right.
Sometimes, coaching is all about who you know. A program might make a phone call to a coach they like. Or an Athletic Director might make an ad hoc request.
Jeter eventually landed at Missouri State, becoming the program's Associate Head Coach. She liked the challenge of being at a mid-major program.
"They gave me the opportunity," she said. "They allowed everyone to to see what I could do."
But Jeter also pursued something she had been itching to do ever since she graduated from Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2006: She was able to enroll in a Master's program at Missouri State and eventually graduated in professional studies and sports management.
"I think what comes natural is that feeling that I know what you're going through," she said. "I know what you want to hear when you're in the trenches. I know what you need to hear. I know how to make an athlete comfortable in their own skin and how to feel more confident in their own skin."
Jeter's involvement with the program provided immediate dividends. She helped the Bears to a third-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships.
"They did so much for me," she sai.
Then, Jeter felt like she was ready for another step. A job with Alabama positioned itself, and Jeter fell in love with the opportunity right away.
"I picked Alabama because A. It was in one of the best conferences," Jeter said. "But I also picked Alabama because it was a school that hadn't had a female coach on staff in over 10 years. It hadn't had a minority coach on staff for over 10 years. Those were two of the pluses."
"I wanted to be someone who could come in and open the door and keep it open for the next woman."
If you have ever met Jeter, or even talked to her for even a little bit of time, you recognize that her energy is palpable. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and she coaches in the way that a lawyer advises a client: The relationship between you and her is just that, a bond that won't break beyond those walls.
Jeter understands that trust is central to helping an athlete succeed. An athlete has to believe in her vision as much as she believe in theirs. That instinct was something she didn't need to learn from the start, even though in recent years she has welcomed in new information like a sponge.
"I think what comes natural is that feeling that I know what you're going through," she said. "I know what you want to hear when you're in the trenches. I know what you need to hear. I know how to make an athlete comfortable in their own skin and how to feel more confident in their own skin."
From the first time Jeter ever remembers helping an athlete after retirement, she's kept that same line of respect. She focuses on you, your pain points and your successes. You can celebrate them equally.
And in turn, her athletes gleefully call her 'Coach Jet.'
Jeter isn't too far from her own days as a sprinter. Sometimes, she says, she even gets the itch to put on a pair of spikes and show everyone how it's done.
But lately, she's more concentrated on the other side of things.
She's focused on being the best coach she can be -- that task requires no gender.
"I want my athletes to leave me better," Jeter said. "I want my athletes to be better than when they came. Whether you're a male or a female, I want you to be a better person on and off the track. One day, when it's my time to run my own program, that will be the day that has been chosen for me.
"But until I get there, my job will be to help as many people as I come across, and for me to help them to reach every goal they wrote down."
Related Links:
- Female In Focus series
- Women History Month: What It Means To Young Athletes In The Sport
- Hear from Abby Steiner on her NCAA win and Women's History Month
- Natasha Hastings To Host Panel On International Women's Day