SAN MARCOS, Calif. – After a successful national search, Cal State San Marcos Director of Athletics Morod Shah announced the hiring of Jack Hoyt as the new head coach for men's and women's cross country/track & field on Thursday.
 
With nearly 40 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and II levels, Hoyt joins CSUSM after a very prosperous nine-year tenure at Azusa Pacific University.
 
"We are very excited to have Jack Hoyt join our Cougar Family," Shah said. "Jack has demonstrated the ability to build an all-around championship program that supports our student-athlete development athletically, academically, and professionally. As a National Championship-winning coach and a two-time NCAA Division II Coach of the Year, Jack brings a tremendous amount of experience and success to our cross country and track and field programs."
 
At APU, Hoyt tallied two NCAA Division II Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships, a cumulative total of 13 PacWest Conference Track & Field Championships across both men's and women's programs, 12 combined PacWest Coach of the Year awards, seven combined USTFCCCA NCAA Division II West Region Coach of the Year honors and two USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Women's Coach of the Year awards.
 
"I am honored to be selected as the next head coach for CSUSM cross country and track & field," Hoyt said. "I am especially grateful to the athletic administration, led by Morod Shah, for entrusting me with this job. The search team asked questions that prioritized the student's needs but also wanted to build champions. It became clear that this job would be the perfect fit for me."
 
Prior to joining APU in 2017, Hoyt spent five seasons as the associate head coach at UCLA, where he coached the jumps and multi-events for the Bruins and saw multiple NCAA Championship qualifiers and All-Americans.
 
Before UCLA, Hoyt was the coach for field events, the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon at Cal Poly for seven years, where he coached two Olympians, five NCAA Division I scoring athletes, 10 NCAA Championship Final meet qualifiers, 37 Regional qualifiers and 19 conference champions.
 
A graduate of Seattle Pacific University, Hoyt coached at his alma mater from 1989 to 2005, including the last six seasons as head coach. He earned a Regional Coach of the Year honor, was a five-time Conference Coach of the Year and produced 36 NCAA Division II All-America athletes and 102 conference champions for the Falcons.
 
As a student-athlete at SPU, Hoyt was an All-American decathlete in 1987 and held the school's high jump record for over 25 years.
 
After his days as a student-athlete, Hoyt continued to compete. In 1990, he broke the American record in the decathlon high jump at 7' 2 3/4" and went on to compete at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials in the decathlon. Hoyt also set the American Record for the over-40 age group in the decathlon in 2004.
 
Outside of collegiate athletics, Hoyt has coached at two Olympic Games and six World Championships, in addition to being the head coach for Team USA at the 2015 World University Games in South Korea.
 
Hoyt's coaching staff will be made up of returning assistant coaches Anthony Heredia, Tracy Thompson and David Pleitez.
 
"Coaches Anthony, Tracy and David have done a remarkable job, and I am looking forward to working with them and continuing their efforts in developing individuals while building unified teams," Hoyt continued.