Email Coach Chakouian at Jeffrey_Chakouian@baylor.edu
Jeff Chakouian begins his eighth season as a Baylor assistant track and field coach serving the throws squad.
Continuing to guide his athletes to success, Chakouian led Nnamdi, the three-time All-American, to compete for Team Nigeria at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he had a best throw of 254 feet, 4 inches. During the 2024 outdoor season, Nnamdi continued his conference title streak and won the title for the third-consecutive year in a row. At the Big 12 Championships, the Awka, Nigeria, native broke the meet-record with a throw of 262-6 on his final attempt after hyperextending his knee the previous week.
Nnamdi took the 2024 African Games title with a 271-8 mark, breaking the program record in Ghana and earning a personal best. Additionally, Nnamdi broke the NCAA West Preliminary meet record and punched his ticket to Eugune with a mark of 270-10. He went on and tabbed his third All-American honor at the NCAA Championships, placing in fourth. Nnamdi holds every top 10 mark in Baylor program history in the javelin.
Chakouian mentored Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi to a bronze medal javelin throw performance at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor National Championships after taking back-to-back Big 12 Championships in the event. Chak also worked closely with true freshman Gary Moore Jr., who ended the year as the Pan American U20 Shot Put Champion and USA U20 National Champion in the shot put. Two new indoor program records came in 2023 behind Cole Hardan in the shot put and Gary Moore Jr. in the weight throw. Moore Jr. also took the hammer throw in his home ring in Waco during his first season of collegiate competition.
In a standout season for Bear Throws, Chakouian coached Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi to an All-American finish in the javelin throw competition, after sitting at the top of the national mark list all but one night of the regular season. Prosper Nnamdi won the Big 12 title in the event and finished first at the NCAA West Prelims. In the summer, the javelin thrower competed in the Commonwealth Games for his home country of Nigera, finishing ninth. Prosper Nnamdi is the current Nigerian record holder in the javelin and repeated as the Nigerian National Champion in the event in 2022.
Also in the 2022 season, Cole Hardan set records No. 1 through 3 in the program’s all-time marks in the hammer throw and finished All-Big 12 in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Hannah Link became the second-best hammer thrower in Baylor history and qualified to the NCAA West Prelims, while Mikayla Deshazer secured her spot as No. 3 all-time in the shot put.
In 2021, Chakouian led Deshazer to a 48-2 shot put performance, bringing her to the fourth-place spot at Baylor all-time, both in the shot put and discus throw. He also coached Cole Hardan to a 61-10.25 weight throw at Big 12s, putting Hardan No. 1 all-time at the school. Hardan also holds records one through nine for weight throw performances with the Bears. Both Deshazer and Hardan qualified for the first round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
In 2020, Chakouian guided Cole Hardan to improve upon his weight throw school record and move to the No. 2 spot all-time at Baylor in the indoor shot put. Hardan achieved All-Big 12 accolades in the shot put.
The 2019 campaign saw the emergence of freshmen Cole Hardan and Alyssa Miller under Chakouian’s watch.
Hardan broke the school records in both the weight throw (indoor) and hammer throw (outdoor) and earned three All-Big 12 accolades. Miller was All-Big 12 indoors in the pentathlon and high jump.
Megan SaxvanderWeyden concluded her career with each of Baylor’s all-time top-10 marks in the javelin and finished third at the 2019 Big 12 Outdoor Championships to earn her third consecutive all-conference award. K.C. Sullivan’s All-Big 12 performance at the outdoor championships made it seven all-conference accolades for Chakouian’s athletes in 2019.
In 2018, he coached SaxvanderWeyden and Ricky Sanchez to All-Big 12 outdoor honors in the javelin, and guided Luke Littlefield to All-Big 12 indoor accolades in the heptathlon. SaxvanderWeyden’s throw of 166-4 [50.71m] at the Big 12 Championships flew past the previous school record of 154-8 (47.15m).
Chakouian spent the previous eight seasons coaching all field events at UCF in addition to serving as the recruiting coordinator.
In 2017, he helped coach UCF to an American Conference Indoor Track Championship and saw a hammer throw school record fall during the outdoor season. His field event squad ended the year with a No. 5 ranking, both in outdoor hammer throw, and indoor weight throw. Chakouian coached three throwers to the NCAA Preliminary Rounds.
In 2016, Chakouian’s crew ended the year with a final event ranking in the No. 4 spot for hammer throw and No. 6 for weight throw.
In his time in Orlando, he helped guide the team to five conference championships, claiming four outdoor titles in a row. During that span, he coached 18 NCAA qualifiers and 20 all-conference performers in addition to helping student-athletes break 30 school records in field events.
In 2013, Chakouian helped coach two student-athletes to top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships, picking up the first top-five finish at the outdoor championships by a non-BCS program since 2000. The team finished fifth at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Prior to UCF, Chakouian spent three seasons at Illinois State University where he coached a pair of Missouri Valley Champions, 13 all-conference standouts and 10 NCAA Outdoor Regional Championship competitors. His athletes reorded two school records for the Redbirds.
He also had stints as a volunteer assistant coach at Kentucky and Brown, coaching six all-conference performers.
Chakouian was a six-time All-American in the shot put as a member of the Kentucky track and field team. During his time in Lexington, he was a five-time SEC champion and an eight-time All-SEC selection.
Chakouian is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist as well as a USTFCCCA CSCS.
A Seekonk, Mass., native, Chakouian graduated from Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in 2005. Chakouian and his wife, Samantha, have two daughters, Mackenzie and Leota.