Anthony Acklin

Biography

Anthony Acklin joined the Track & Field staff at ACU in July, 2024, coaching sprints, hurdles, and the combined event athletes, as well as overseeing Graduate Assistant Wayne Northover in the jumps. Acklin came to ACU with 15 years of coaching experience, including five at the Power Four level. Acklin immediately had an impact in the 2024-2025 T&F season. ACU had two conference champions in 2025 (Ja’Dasia Sims in the indoor high jump and Canaan Fairley in the decathlon), with Canaan being coached by Acklin and Ja’Dasia being coached by graduate assistant Wayne Northover, under Acklin’s oversight. ACU also had several conference top-3 finishers coached by Acklin – Miguel Hall, 2nd place in the 60 hurdles; Canaan Fairley, 3rd place in the indoor heptathlon; Luize Velmere, 3rd in the indoor triple jump and 2nd in the outdoor triple jump; Kenan Reil, 3rd in the 400 hurdles; JaDasia Sims, 2nd in the outdoor high jump, and Natalie Poe, 3rd in the outdoor heptathlon. Both athletes who qualified for the West First Round meet in College Station – Ja’Dasia Sims and Luize Velmere - were coached by Graduate Assistant Wayne Northover, under Acklin’s oversight. Prior to ACU, Acklin was associate head coach at Western Kentucky University for three seasons. In his time at WKU, he sent multiple athletes to the Conference USA Championship, with one podium placement. One of his sprinters was also named CUSA's Newcomer of the Year. Before WKU, Acklin made his coaching mark at Ole Miss. He sent 1