BREVARD, N.C. – Matthew Jelley has been named Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Brevard College, announced Associate Vice President for Athletics Dr. Myranda Crews.
 
Coach Jelley will begin his duties, effective immediately.
 
"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Jelley as our Director of Track & Field and Cross Country," said Crews. "Throughout the search process, it became clear that Coach Jelley is an exceptional leader with a proven ability to recruit and build programs while fostering a culture of academic excellence, personal growth, and competitive success. His vision for our student-athletes aligns perfectly with our commitment to excellence, and we are confident he will build on our rich tradition while taking our program to new heights. We look forward to seeing the impact Coach Jelley will have on our student-athletes, our campus community, and the future of Brevard College's Track & Field and Cross Country programs."
 
"I am honored to be named the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Brevard College," said Jelley. "I would like to thank Athletic Director Dr. Myranda Crews and Executive Vice President Mr. Juan Mascaro for their faith and confidence in me to lead this program.  Brevard has a tremendous history, so I am excited to help build this program and honor this alumni's storied past. This is somewhat of a full circle moment for me as my first running experience outside of running on my high school team was attending the Brevard Distance Runners Camp as a prep runner. I never imagined back then I would have the ability to come back and lead the Brevard College program years later. I can't wait to get on campus and get started helping our student-athletes grow and become the best versions of themselves both on and off the track and cross country course."
 
Coach Jelley brings almost 30 years of coaching experience to Brevard, including over 15 years at the Division I level. His head coaching career started at Toms River High School North in Toms River, New Jersey, where Coach Jelley established one of the top programs in the nation from 2000-2007, earning him New Jersey Coach of the Year honors in 2001.
 
He collected a 41-5 dual meet record in his seven years at Toms River North and his cross country program ranked amongst the nation's best at No. 24 and No. 17 respectively in 2003 and 2004. In 2003, Toms River North's Indoor Track Distance Medley Relay squad ranked No. 5 in the nation, anchored by his athlete Pete Hess, who in the same year won the New Jersey Meet of Champions in the 3200-meter (9:01.83). By the fall, Hess would go on to be 1st Team All-ACC as well as ACC's Rookie of the Year in his freshman Cross Country season at the University of Maryland. Coach Jelley's teams won six-straight Ocean County Championships and he coached ten high school All-Americans at the high school level.
 
Coach Jelley entered the collegiate ranks in 2007, joining Temple University as their Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track & Field Coach. While at Temple, Coach Jelley recruited athletes who with his training and guidance set new school records in 20 of the 21 distance events.
 
Under Coach Jelley's leadership, Temple athletes earned several athletic and academic honors.  In 2010, he led Temple's men's team to an A-10 Conference Championship in Outdoor Track.  Coach Jelley also recruited and coached Travis Mahoney, who went on to receive A-10 Conference MVP selections in the 2011 and 2012 Outdoor Track seasons as well as the 2011-12 Indoor Track season, becoming the first Temple athlete to earn that honor. Jelley trained Mahoney in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase to become Temple's first Division 1 All-American since 1994, and the lone first-team All-American in Temple's history. Mahoney ended with 3 All-American nods and was ranked #2 in the NCAA in two straight years. Jelley's guidance helped athletes qualify for USA Juniors and U.S. Olympic Trials before his departure in 2012.
 
Jelley joined the University of Maryland's coaching staff in 2012 as an assistant coach for the Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track & Field teams. During his seven years with the Terrapins, he was solely responsible for  the training, coaching, and management of all 30 Cross Country and distance student-athletes competing in both the ACC and Big Ten Conferences. He coached Jakub Zikec to earn an NCAA D1 All-American status in the 1500-meter (3:44.33). He also brought multiple distance athletes to D1 Cross Country Nationals and multiple athletes to D1 Regionals every year at the school. His athletes broke both men's and women's 800-meter school records and five other school records across distance events. Jelley helped athletes succeed in the classroom as well, guiding the Cross Country team to the President's Cup (awarded to the team with the highest GPA at Maryland) in five of the seven years he coached the Terrapins.
 
Following his seven years at Maryland, Coach Jelley returned to New Jersey, to coach at Rutgers University, another Big Ten Conference member. Jelley served the 2020-21 season as the Women's Cross Country Assistant Coach, maintaining the same responsibilities he had at Maryland while emphasizing success on the track and in the classroom. Jelley's athletes earned the highest GPA of all fall sports teams at Rutgers while breaking two school records (the 3,000-meter Steeplechase record was broken five times) and notching seven Top-10 all-time performances.
 
Jelley's success in his first year with the Scarlet Knights led to his promotion to Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach and Associate Head Coach for Men's and Women's Track & Field ahead of the 2021 season. During his four seasons leading the program, Jelley coached 15 school record holders and 78 Top-10 all-time performances, including Alex Carlson, a Division I NCAA individual qualifier for the 2023 Cross Country Nationals, an individual qualifier for the 2023 Indoor National Championships in the Mile (4:31.51) and 3000-meter (8:56.15), and the 2024 Big Ten individual champion in both events. Jelley also coached Kassidy Johnson, who went on to set both of Rutgers' 800-meter school records in 2:04.36 (Indoor) and 2:02.35 (Outdoor). On the men's squad, Coach Jelley trained Billy Hill, who set school records in the Indoor Mile (4:02.11) and the Outdoor 1500-meter (3:42.57). Jelley continued to emphasize academic excellence in his tenure at Rutgers, earning the highest team GPA of all fall sports teams three of his four years.
 
Coach Jelley's wealth of experience at multiple levels, his dedication to molding well-rounded student-athletes, and his passion for the sport makes him an exciting addition to lead Brevard's Cross Country and Track & Field programs into a new era.
 
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