TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona track and field program has hired Matthew McGee as the new jumps/multis coach, head coach Fred Harvey announced on Friday.
“I'm really excited to have coach McGee as a part of the program,” head coach Fred Harvey said. “He is the same type of caliber coach as Sheldon Blockberger with a different personality. He is a very competent coach and does really well in the high jump and he brings a really good ability to coach the horizontal jumps as well. I think he fits in really well with not only the track and field department, but the entire athletic department.”
McGee spent all 10 of his seasons as a collegiate coach at his alma mater Washington State. Last year, he coached Alissa Brooks-Johnson to a women's heptathlon conference championship title. Brooks-Johnson finished with a score of 5,803 points. Charlotte Muschamp took fourth place overall in the high jump at the Pac-12 Championships with a mark of 5-10.5 (1.79m).
In 2014, he coached Muschamp to a women's high jump conference title. She cleared a mark of 5-11.5 (1.82m), which was a personal record for her. Muschamp also took second place in the triple jump under McGee's guidance.
During the 2013 season, McGee coached Kristine Felix to the Pac-12 women's pole vault title. It was the first time the Pac-12 pole vault championship was taken back to Washington State. Holly Parent took second place in the women's high jump at the Pac-12 Championships as well. He also guided Scott Ellis to an 11th-place finish in the men's long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. It was the fourth time that Ellis earned Indoor All-America accolades.
Ellis earned the Pac-12 men's long jump title in 2012 with a mark of 25-9.25w (7.85m). He took fifth place at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that year as well.
In 2011, Parent advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships with a high jump of 6-0 (1.83m) and then jumped 6-0.75 (1.85m) in outdoors, the fourth-best height cleared in Washington State history. Christine Rice's 2011 high jump of 5-10.75 (1.80m) is eighth-best all-time.
The 2009 Washington State men's high jumpers had three seven-foot jumpers in three-time All-American Trent Arrivey, Shawn Swartz, and Ryan Deese. Arrivey won the 2009 Pac-10 title as well as the 2008 NCAA West Regional title. His best mark is fourth-best in the school's all-time records.
The San Francisco, Calif. native attended College of Marin and Diablo Valley College, where he competed in the decathlon. He transferred to Washington State and walked on to the team. He went on to take second place in the javelin throw at the 2003 Pac-10 Championships.
McGee graduated from Washington State in 2003 with a degree in philosophy. He was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic and Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar second team and was awarded a Pac-10 post-graduate scholarship.
He and his wife Karla have a son, Liam, and a daughter, Kaiya.
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