Wes Kittley’s coaching journey has been deeply rooted in the southern plains.
Hailing from Rule, Texas, Kittley began his illustrious coaching career at his alma mater, Abilene Christian, where he achieved remarkable success. Later, he has continued to add to his accolades in Lubbock as the head coach at Texas Tech.
Throughout his career, Kittley has led an impressive 30 squads to national team titles, a feat rarely matched in the world of track & field coaching. His combined achievements at both the NCAA Division II level with ACU and the Division I level with Texas Tech have solidified his status as one of only two coaches to secure national titles in both realms.
Kittley quickly made an impact at ACU, securing the Lone Star Conference women’s outdoor title in 1984 and earning a third-place finish at the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The following year, he guided the ACU women’s team to their first national crown and captured eight more indoor or outdoor trophies with that squad before being given the reins to the Wildcat men’s program prior to the 1992-93 campaign.
Many more national titles followed for the Wildcats – a whopping 29 total with Kittley at the helm. That included two years – 1996 and 1999 – when ACU made a clean sweep of the men’s and women’s NCAA DII indoor and outdoor crowns in the same year. He racked up 31 Lone Star Conference team track & field titles – never losing amid an era when the conference didn’t have an indoor championship. His ACU athletes won 155 individual national titles as 302 individuals earned All-American status.
Texas Tech soon called – and Kittley answered. The Red Raiders were then in the bottom half of the Big 12 Conference in track & field, but Kittley turned the program around. By 2005, Kittley had Texas Tech atop the Big 12 team standings in track & field for the first time by winning the men’s indoor title. Kittley added seven more Big 12 team titles, including two in 2023.
In 2019, Kittley reached an unprecedented stratum in Red Raider history: he led Texas Tech to its first national title in any men’s sport when they topped the podium at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships in Austin. His squad was led by Divine Oduduru, who swept the 100- and 200-meter crowns and was later named a finalist for The Bowerman.
Still in charge at Texas Tech, Kittley’s athletes have amassed 30 individual national titles and 283 individual All-American awards through the 2023 track & field season.
Throughout his career, Kittley has garnered numerous coaching accolades. He is a five-time National Coach of the Year and hauled in 19 Regional Coach of the Year honors.