Jeff Chakouian Position: Assistant Coach

Jeff Chakouian enters his fourth season with the track and field program after being hired as an assistant coach on July 6, 2009. Chakouian is responsible for working with the throwers and pole vault at UCF. He also serves as the recruiting coordinator.

In 2012, Chakouian helped lead the Knights to their fourth Conference USA Championship. Under his guidance, freshman Precious Ogunleye rewrote the UCF record book, claiming the weight throw, indoor and outdoor shot put and hammer throw freshman records. She capped the outdoor season with all-conference honors and was the first freshman in five years to represent UCF in the throws at the NCAA East Preliminaries.

In 2011, Chakouian helped UCF sweep the indoor and outdoor track and field championship titles one year removed from winning its first ever C-USA Championship in outdoor track. Satrina Oliveira earned All-Conference laurels in the discus at the outdoor championships with a personal-best performance at the meet. In that same season, Erica Weiss broke the school record for indoor pole vault at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational.

At the 2010 championships, Chakouian witnessed the Knights enter the final day of competition sixth before mounting a comeback that would land them at the top of the podium on their home track as the 2010 C-USA Outdoor Track and Field Champions.

Under Chakouian, LaKendra Thames set four school records in 2010. Thames set new UCF records in the indoor shot and weight, while also setting marks in outdoor shot and discus. Her throws in those events were also All-Conference USA performances.

Prior to his time at UCF, Chakouian spent the previous three seasons at Illinois State University.

During his three-year tenure at Illinois State, Chakouian coached a pair of Missouri Valley Conference champions as well as 10 NCAA Division I Outdoor Regional participants and 13 all-conference performers.

Prior to his stint at Illinois State, Chakouian served as a volunteer assistant coach at both Kentucky and Brown. While at Kentucky in 2006, he helped coach one Southeastern Conference champion and four all-conference standouts. Serving in the same position at Brown from August 2005-March 2006, he coached one Ivy League champion and two all-conference performers.

Chakouian amassed an impressive resume of national and international competitive experience. A native of Seekonk, Mass., Chakouian was a six-time All-American in the shot put while a member of the track and field team at Kentucky. Chakouian, who received his undergraduate degree in education kinesiology and health promotions from Kentucky in May 2005, was a five-time SEC champion, an eight-time All-SEC selection in the shot put and was a team captain for three seasons.

Chakouian has competed in numerous international competitions in more than a dozen countries. He finished fifth at the Junior World Championships (Santiago, Chile) in 2000 and first at the Junior Pan American Games (Sante Fe, Argentina) in 2001 while also being ranked No. 6 on the Jr. World Shot Put List.

A product of Seekonk High School, Chakouian was a junior national champion in both the shot put and discus in 2001 and was elected team captain of the USA versus Great Britain Junior World Tour. In 2006, Chakouian placed fifth at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.