When Dennis Shaver ascended to the rank of head coach of the LSU track and field program in July 2004, he was given the reigns of a national power recognized worldwide for its dominance at the collegiate level while racking up a total of 30 NCAA team championships in its history.

Expectations were high, but Shaver had experienced LSU's success first-hand as he helped coach the Tigers and Lady Tigers to a combined 12 national championships while serving as an assistant coach for nine seasons from 1996-2004. It came as no surprise when he was asked to continue LSU's championship tradition when the position opened in the wake of the 2004 season.

Shaver knew the challenge that lay in front of him when he accepted the job. At his opening press conference, Shaver promised fans, coaches, officials and his student-athletes that "we are going to do everything we can to keep this kind of championship program going here at LSU."

He has certainly delivered on that promise as the program has showed no signs of slowing down under his guidance. The Tigers and Lady Tigers were on the cusp of adding to their championship collection in Shaver's first four seasons as head coach as they combined for a total of seven second-place finishes at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, including four for the Tigers and three for the Lady Tigers.

But with his best team making the trip to Des Moines, Iowa, for the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Shaver knew LSU was a championship contender on both sides.

The meet unfolded just the way he had anticipated with the women's race for the team title going down to the very last event of the weekend. The Lady Tigers were tied with defending champion Arizona State at 59 points with both teams advancing a team into the final of the 4x400 relay. The stage was set for a dramatic conclusion with the team crossing the finish line first taking the title.

The Lady Tigers carried the stick around the track in 3 minutes, 28.33 seconds to score eight points with a second-place finish in the race, while the Sun Devils were unable to keep pace with a fifth-place finish. The final score for the meet after 21 events read LSU 67, Arizona State 63.

Not only did the Lady Tigers capture their first national championship under Shaver, but the team won the 31st NCAA title in the history of the LSU track and field program nearly 75 years to the day that the Tigers won their first national championship way back on June 17, 1933. It proved to be a fitting end to a season that also saw the Lady Tigers dominate the Southeastern Conference by sweeping SEC Indoor and Outdoor championships for the first time since the 1996 season.

For his team's performance, Shaver was named the NCAA Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, while also sweeping SEC Women's Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year honors in a vote of the league's head coaches.

Widely considered one of the premier sprints and hurdles coaches in all of track and field, LSU's athletes flourished under Shaver once again as the Tigers and Lady Tigers made their presence felt throughout the 2008 season. Shaver coached the likes of Lady Tiger greats Kelly Baptiste and Nickiesha Wilson to individual NCAA titles during their final season in the purple and gold, and he also coached Tiger sprint star Richard Thompson to one of the most prolific seasons in history at the collegiate level.

Baptiste was the catalyst in LSU's national championship run as she accounted for a team high 19 points at the NCAA Championships while becoming the fifth Lady Tiger in program history to be crowned NCAA champion in the 100-meter dash. Wilson was equally as impressive at the NCAA Outdoor meet as she added 18 points with a national championship in the 400-meter hurdles and a runner-up finish in the final of the 100-meter hurdles.

In four years with Shaver's coaching, Baptiste amassed a resume to rival the best sprinters to ever wear the LSU uniform. She is the only Lady Tiger to sweep NCAA titles in the 60 meters and 100 meters in the same season, while she also ranks seventh in LSU history with an impressive 14 career All-America honors. She is also the school-record holder with a top 60-meter time of 7.13.

But no athlete dominated collegiate track and field in 2008 quite like Thompson. Arguably the greatest sprinter to ever wear the LSU uniform, Thompson also became the first Tiger to sweep NCAA titles in the 60 meters and 100 meters in the same season, while he also ran the second leg on LSU's national champion 4x100-meter relay team. In addition, Thompson won All-America honors in the 200 meters with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships en route to being named the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.

He became the first sprinter coached by Shaver to crack the 10-second barrier in the 100-meter dash with his victory at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Auburn, Ala. Thompson's 9.93 in the conference final was the second-fastest time ever recorded at the collegiate level.

Thompson, who came to LSU from the country of Trinidad and Tobago with a personal best of 10.65 in the 100 meters, wrapped up his career in Baton Rouge as a four-time NCAA champion, a five-time SEC champion and an eight-time All-American under Shaver's guidance.

While Shaver helped Thompson become one of the more dominant sprinters in collegiate history during his career at LSU, he coached his pupil to worldwide stardom at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In his Olympics debut, Thompson shocked the world by winning a silver medal in the finals of the 100-meter dash while setting a new collegiate record with a time of 9.89. He finished second only to Jamaican world-record holder and gold medalist Usain Bolt. After anchoring Trinidad's 4x100-meter relay to a silver medal, Thompson's unforgettable season was complete.

While Thompson grabbed the headlines, he was not the only athlete coached by Shaver to line up at the Olympic Games. Former Lady Tiger hurdler and World Indoor champion Lolo Jones made her Olympics debut with a seventh-place finish after winning the 100-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials, while Baptiste (Trinidad and Tobago) and Sherry Fletcher (Grenada) ran the 100 meters and Wilson (Jamaica) and Isa Phillips (Jamaica) competed in the 400-meter hurdles.

LSU carried that momentum into the 2009 season as Shaver again proved why he is one of the more respected coaches in the business while coaching Tiger star Trindon Holliday to his first career NCAA championship in the 100-meter dash.

After finishing as the national runner-up in 2007 and earning a third-place finish in 2008, Holliday enjoyed a season to remember as he became the third different Tiger in four years to be crowned the NCAA 100-meter champion. He sprinted to the finish line with a PR of 10.00 to continue LSU’s domination in the event. His victory in the NCAA 100-meter final followed a 2009 indoor season in which he earned his second-straight runner-up finish in the 60-meter dash at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Holliday will look for his first career national crown in the 60 meters in 2010 as he returns to the team for his final season of indoor eligibility.

The LSU sprints and hurdles group accounted for 25 All-America honors in 2009 as the Tigers earned a pair of top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships during both the indoor and outdoor seasons and the Lady Tigers placed sixth at each meet.

LSU's success in 2008 came on the heels of a 2007 season in which Shaver coached his teams to a combined three runner-up finishes at the NCAA Championships. The Lady Tigers were second both indoor and outdoor to go along with their first SEC Outdoor championship since 1996, while the Tigers earned their second-straight runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

The 2006 season also proved to be an incredible year for Shaver in just his second season at the helm as he guided the men's team to a pair of national runner-up finishes at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while the youthful women's team earned a pair of seventh-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.

Under Shaver's guidance, LSU great Xavier Carter won four individual national titles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2006, becoming the first collegiate athlete since Ohio State's Jesse Owens in 1935 and 1936 to win four NCAA titles at a single national meet. Carter claimed championships in the 100 meters, 400 meters, 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay, and finished his brief two-year career with an incredible seven individual national championships and 10 All-America honors. He is the only collegiate athlete in history to win national titles in the 100 meters and 400 meters in the same season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Sprint sensation Kelly Willie also capped a stellar career in 2006 by leading the Tigers to three relay national titles while earning a total of five All-America honors. With Shaver's coaching, Willie finished his four-year career in Baton Rouge as the most decorated athlete in the history of LSU men's track and field, tying Carter with a school record seven individual NCAA titles and an LSU best 19 career All-America honors.

LSU's men's and women's relay teams proved to be an unbeatable force throughout the 2006 season, sweeping 4x400 national titles at the NCAA Championships during the indoor and outdoor seasons and the men claiming a national championship in the 4x100 at the outdoor meet. In all, 12 of Shaver's athletes won individual national titles in eight different events in addition to a total of 23 All-America honors in 2006.

In his first season at the helm, Shaver led LSU to a pair of top-10 finishes in NCAA competition and a total of 14 All-America honors. The season was capped by an exceptional effort at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in which the Tigers' 4x400-meter relay team set a new collegiate record and dominated the field by winning the national title.

The foursome of Reggie Dardar, Willie, Bennie Brazell and Carter clocked a blistering 2:59.59 in shattering the 17-year-old record. The NCAA title catapulted the Tigers to a third-place finish in the final team standings, an effort that was assisted by national runner-up efforts by Carter and Brazell in the 200 meters and 400 hurdles, respectively.

While he enters his sixth season as head coach, Shaver has enjoyed 15 tremendously successful seasons at LSU after joining the program as an assistant coach in August 1995. During his time in Baton Rouge, Shaver has coached 27 NCAA champion athletes who have won a total of 38 NCAA titles, while guiding his athletes to a total of 275 All-America honors. The Tigers and Lady Tiger have also been leaders in the classroom as they have racked up 157 selections to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in five seasons under Shaver.

Shaver joined the LSU staff after serving four seasons as an assistant coach at Auburn where he designed training programs for the team's field and multi-event athletes.

Prior to his tenure at Auburn, Shaver served as head coach for both the men's and women's track and field programs at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan. His teams captured all 12 of the conference's indoor and outdoor titles in his six seasons at Barton. He also led the Barton women to eight national championships, including three indoor, three outdoor and two cross country titles. During the 1990-91 season, his women's team captured the first "National Triple Crown" in junior college history, winning the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track titles that season.

Shaver is regarded as one of the premier coaches in the sport of track and field, and he has earned national recognition for his many accomplishments throughout his coaching career.

Not only was he named the NCAA Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA in 2008, but he has also been named a three-time SEC Women's Coach of the Year with one indoor honor and two outdoor honors in the last two seasons. In 2003, he was recognized by his peers as the first USTCA Assistant Coach of the Year for Women's Sprints and Hurdles. In addition, Shaver has received eight National Coach of the Year awards, six Kansas Collegiate Coach of the Year honors and 13 Regional Coach of the Year awards.

Shaver is certified as a Level I, II and Master Coach by USA Track and Field and is an instructor for the USATF Coaches Education curriculum of the sprint and hurdle events.

A native of Salina, Kansas, Shaver earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1979. In 1981, he added a master's degree in education with an emphasis on administration from Stephen F. Austin State University. Shaver and his wife, Connie, have two children. Dale (26) is a sales consultant for Mike's Audio in Baton Rouge, and Lindsay (23), a 2008 summa cum laude graduate of Southeastern Louisiana School of Nursing, is an RN in children's oncology at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge.

The Shaver File

Coaching Experience
LSU  
2004-Present • Head Coach
1995-2004 • Assistant Coach
Auburn 
1992-95 • Assistant Coach
Barton (Kan.) County CC
1985-91 • Head Coach
Hutchinson (Kan.) CC 
1982-85 • Head Track & Field Coach
1981-85 • Assistant Football Coach
1981-82 • Assistant Track & Field Coach

Records and Achievements at LSU
18 Olympians
4 Olympic Medalists
27 NCAA Champion athletes winning 38 NCAA titles
16 NCAA Champion Relay Teams
Athletes have earned 275 All-America honors in 27 years of coaching
42 SEC Champion athletes winning 92 SEC titles
26 SEC Champion Relay Teams
157 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections in five seasons as LSU’s head coach
2008 NCAA Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year
3-time SEC Women’s Coach of the Year
2008 USTFCCCA Women’s South Central Region Coach of the Year
2007 USTFCCCA Women’s Mideast Region Coach of the Year
2003 USTCA Assistant Coach of the Year
Coached Richard Thompson to a Collegiate Record of 9.89 seconds in the 100-meter final to win a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Coached Xavier Carter to four individual NCAA titles at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships, joining the legendary Jesse Owens of Ohio State in 1935 and 1936 as the only athletes in history to accomplish the feat.
Coached LSU to five Collegiate Relay Records all-time, including the women’s 4x100 (42.55), women’s 4x200 (1:29.78), men’s 4x400 (2:59.59) and women’s shuttle hurdle relay (52.77). He also coached the women’s 4x400 to a NCAA Championships meet record of 3:25.26.

Achievements Prior to LSU
8 NJCAA National Championships
Coached Barton County CC to first NJCAA "Triple Crown" in history, winning the cross country, indoor and outdoor national titles during the 1990-91 season
12 Jayhawk Community College Conference Championships
7 National Coach of the Year Awards
12 Regional Coach of the Year Awards
6 Kansas Collegiate Coach of the Year Awards