| Randy Bungard |
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Randy Bungard is in his fourth season as the head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs at the University of Virginia.
Bungard came to UVa from the University of Texas, where he was as an assistant women’s track and field coach for two seasons.
Since taking over as head coach at Virginia, he has worked to develop the Cavaliers into a perennial ACC Championship contender.
Last year, Bungard and his coaching staff guided UVa to the best combined finish in cross country since 1990. The women’s team placed third and the men’s squad took fourth at the 1999 ACC Cross Country Championships. Both teams finished the season strong, as the women’s and men’s teams both placed seventh at the 1999 NCAA Regional Championships.
Bungard and his staff coached standouts Jennifer Owens and Bobby Thiele to All-American honors, the first time since 1985 that the Cavaliers had had a pair of All-Americans in cross country.
Bungard brings a wealth of cross country and distance running experience to Virginia. Among the athletes he has coached are Jessica Koch (Texas), the NCAA District VI Cross Country champion in 1996, and Dana Riley (Texas), the 1997 Outdoor NCAA 800-meter champion. He also worked closely with the Big 12 Conference Distance Medley Relay championship team at Texas.
Long considered one of the giants of the track world, Texas’ tradition of excellence continued as Bungard coached or assisted in coaching 11 NCAA champions, 50 All-Americans, 24 Big 12 Conference champions and 19 Southwest Conference champions as a member of the Longhorn staff.
The Texas women claimed second place overall at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor national championships in 1997. In 1996, Bungard helped Texas place third at the NCAA Indoor Championships and second at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Bungard previously served as assistant track and field coach at UVa from 1993 until 1995. During his first stint at UVa, Virginia produced two All-Americans, six NCAA qualifiers, six Atlantic Coast Conference champions, 16 All-ACC performers and two school records.
Bungard has also been an assistant coach at Clemson University and East Tennessee State University. At Clemson, Bungard had a hand in developing 11 All-Americans, 34 NCAA qualifiers and 22 ACC champions. During his tenure there, Clemson athletes established 69 school records, won four ACC MVP honors and placed second at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in the 400-meter dash. Bungard coached Clemson standout Kim Graham, a 1996 Olympic 400-meter semifinalist and Olympic gold medalist as a member of the 4x400-meter relay team. Graham is now an assistant at Virginia.
He was an assistant in 1991 at Clemson when the Tigers won the ACC Outdoor Championships and a year later when they were victorious at the ACC Indoor Championships. Bungard was also an academic instructor during his five years at Clemson. He taught a variety of classes, including Theory and Methods of Coaching Administration and Organization of Athletics, and Sports Psychology,
The Richmond, Va. native’s coaching career began shortly after earning his bachelor’s degree in education with an emphasis in physical education from Virginia Tech in 1987. At Tech, Bungard competed as a decathlete, capturing three Metro All-Conference titles during his career.
Later, Bungard continued his education at East Tennessee State University, where he earned his master’s degree in education with an emphasis in exercise physiology in 1988. At ETSU, Bungard served as a teaching assistant and a volunteer coach for the track team for one year, coaching the 1988 NCAA indoor shot put champion, as well as three Southern Conference champions and five All-Conference performers.
Bungard is single and resides in Charlottesville.
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