Samford University Women's Track & Field

Arguably one of the top track and field coaches in the nation, Rod Tiffin has excelled as the head coach at Samford University and is entering his 14th season at the helm of the Bulldogs' program. A 16-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year, Tiffin has turned Samford's track and field program into a Southern Conference powerhouse. Tiffin has already earned 15 SoCon championships during his tenure, including the program's first four-peat where the men's and women's squads swept both in Southern Conference Indoor Championship titles and the Southern Conference Outdoor titles. He previously coached at the University of Alabama, where his field event crew amassed 17 school records, 20 All-American honors, eight Southeastern Conference Championships, three NCAA titles, a gold medal at the World University Games, two Olympic team berths and two World Championship berths. Before Alabama, Tiffin coached at Auburn University and served as head track-and-field and cross-country coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Tiffin set a few records of his own as an All-SEC standout decathlete for Auburn, scoring 3,590 points in the pentathlon. He also played two years of basketball at Snead State Community College before transferring to Auburn University. Tiffin received his bachelor's degree in economics from Auburn in 1990. A native of Scottsboro, Alabama, Tiffin was a three-sport star at Scottsboro High School and was named to Scottsboro's Team of the Century first-team footb

Jonathan Farris is in his sixth year as the director of strength and conditioning at Samford. He is responsible for the strength and conditioning program for Samford’s

Tom Esslinger enters his third season as an assistant coach on the Samford track and field staff. Esslinger will coach jumps, multis, and javelin for the 2025-26

Wes Penberthy was hired to lead the Bulldog cross country programs in August of 2024. Penberthy joins Samford from Palm Beach Atlantic University where he was