About Me
Back for his fourth season in charge of the Lady Vol pole vaulters is former University of Tennessee record-holder David Job. A native of Oak Ridge, Tenn., Job previously spent 12 years coaching high school vaulters throughout the Knoxville metropolitan area before lending his expertise to the Big Orange program in 2003.
The past two seasons have seen him develop school-record-setting athletes as well as NCAA qualifiers. In 2004, sophomore Jessica Reust took that a step further, blossoming into the school\'s top vaulter outdoors, winning the SEC Outdoor title and advancing to the NCAA Championship meet last June.
In only her second year at UT, Reust carded the best-ever clearance outdoors by a Tennessee woman, sailing over 13-3.50 to win the SEC crown last May and become the third Lady Vol to win that event outdoors since 1998. Teammate Kendra Rhyne also developed into an SEC-caliber competitor, scoring points for her squad in eighth position indoors and sixth place outdoors.
During the 2003 campaign, he worked with senior vaulter Christie Elwin and helped the Australian increase her then-indoor and outdoor school records to 13-2.25 and earn her first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Elwin\'s top finishes included taking fourth at the SEC Indoor meet and fifth at the first-ever NCAA Mideast Regional, charting school standards on each occasion.
During his dozen years of coaching prior to UT, his prep pupils won titles or placed at the state championship meet in each of those seasons. In 2002, one of the student-athletes he directed, Andy Lane Jr., won the Young Men division at the AAU Junior Olympics. Other Job proteges have set women\'s records at numerous meets, including the Knoxville News Sentinel Relays and the Volunteer Track Classic.
Among his charges are three current Lady Vols who hail from the Knoxville area. He guided Rhyne to a state title and Tennessee record in 2001, Reust to a state crown in 2002 and also worked with Jessica Andrews. Additionally, he helped male vaulters Nate and Jake Parkhurst win a state championship in 2000 and finish second in 2001, respectively.
Job is in his second stint as a coach at UT, having worked with the men\'s program as assistant vault coach from 1970-72. He did so after a standout career at Tennessee, in which he earned three letters and claimed the school pole vault record in 1965.
Before the end of Job\'s college career, however, he was called away to serve his country in the Army during the Vietnam War. After doing so from the fall of 1966 until the fall of 1969, he returned to Big Orange Country and resumed his studies in the School of Architecture, earning his diploma in 1973.
During a military assignment in Germany, Job vaulted in Europe for the \"Mannheim Turniern und Sport Gellsellshaft\" Sports Club, setting that organization\'s record in the event. During that time, he also etched his name in the record books by achieving the best clearance for the Rhine Pfaltz District in Germany.
In his full-time occupation, Job is the local representative for DartFish video analysis software. The father of grown children Jeni and Matt, Job resides in Knoxville to be closer to the track and his athletes.