DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University first year Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Tavius "T.J." Walker has named his assistant coaching staff of four, including the addition of Tamika Kinchen and Jamie McNeair-Reese and the return of Marino Drake and Bernard Austin.
 
Kinchen will serve as head cross country coach and will focus on distance runners on the track. McNeair-Reese will guide throwers and combined event performers (decathlon/heptathlon). Drake will continue to work with jumpers and Austin with hurdlers.
 
Tamika Kinchen: Head Cross Country/Assistant Coach - Distance
 
Kinchen joins the Eagles after last serving as a head track and field and cross country coach at Fort Valley State University and the women's middle and long distance coach at Georgia Southern University. She was instrumental in the success of another Eagles' program at GSU, where the cross country program set three school records and several student-athletes recorded both indoor and outdoor school/personal bests.
 
"I am excited about the infusion of Coach K into our program," said Walker. "In addition to the tremendous success as a student-athlete and as a coach, she is extremely detailed and will apply a systematic approach with the training of our student-athletes. Recruiting will be one of her top priorities and I firmly believe that she can empower the mid-distance and distance runners to overachieve. Her future is bright and I am anxious to witness her contributions to the Eagle family."
 
Prior to her coaching career, Kinchen had a stellar collegiate career competing at Albany State University and Georgia State University where she earned many accolades and awards.
 
Kinchen attended Albany State from 2007-2008 where she competed in cross country and track and field. She was named SIAC Female Runner of the Year in 2008 and earned SIAC first-team honors in the 800-meter and 1,500m and second-team in the 400m. Kinchen was named MVP for the 2007-08 season and was the SIAC champion in the 800m, 1,500m, 4x400m during the 2007-08 season. Kinchen holds the SIAC record in the 800 meters.
 
As a Panther, Kinchen won the 800m and 1,500m runs at the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships her senior season. She owns the school record in both events and was an All-CAA performer in the 4x400m relay. She was named co-Most Outstanding Performer at the 2010 CAA Championships and owns the CAA record in the 800m (2:08.90). Kinchen was a two-time regional and national qualifier in the 800m and a two-time USA Track and Field Championships participant with a time of 2:03.25.
 
A native of Warner Robins, Georgia, Kinchen graduated from Georgia State University in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in English with a concentration in secondary education. She currently resides in Durham, North Carolina.
 
Jamie McNeair-Reese: Assistant Coach – Combined Events/Throws
 
McNeair-Reese, who earned a master's degree at NCCU 10 years ago and has worked track camps at NCCU in the past, has returned to Durham. She has spent the past two years as head coach of the Top Speed Athletics Track Club in Graham, North Carolina.
 
"I wanted to employ an additional approach within the identity of our program and Coach McNeair-Reese joining the staff as our multi's coach is a vital component of that process," said Walker. "The multi's events – decathlon and heptathlon – will service as a new arena for us and not only has Coach McNeair-Reese come highly recommended, but she has proven her success as a coach on every level of the sport. Not all great athletes make great coaches, but she definitely is an exception to the rule. We're fortunate to have her on our staff."
 
McNeair-Reese has over a decade's worth of coaching experience with the youth, high school and collegiate levels, including as a volunteer assistant coach at Purdue University and as head coach at Eastern Alamance High School.
 
McNeair-Reese ran track at Purdue University, where she was named to the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. She is a three-time NCAA All-American in the heptathlon and six-time Big Ten Champion in the pentathlon/heptathlon. Post collegiately, McNeair-Reese was a USA Track and Field national and Pan-American Games champion in the heptathlon.
 
McNeair-Reese is a native of Buffalo, New York, and was raised in Boynton Beach, Florida. She received her bachelor's degree in organizational leadership from Purdue, and her Master of Education in communication disorders from NCCU. McNeair-Reese is also a certified and practicing speech-language pathologist. She has a 16-year old son, Terry Reese III, and they reside in Alamance County.
 
Marino Drake: Assistant Coach – Jumps
 
Drake enters his ninth season with the NCCU track and field program. He joined the Eagles in the fall of 2008 and has worked with the jumpers.
 
"Coach Drake brings a positively infectious attitude to not only the jumpers but to the entire team," said Walker. "As a result of coaching multiple Division I athletes and elite athletes to high levels of success, his resume is undeniable. Outside of the X's and O's of coaching, he has crafted himself into a complete coach who can manage operational objectives within the program. He's a perfect fit."
 
Drake, who is originally from Cuba, was a high jumper for the Cuban National Track and Field team for a dozen years (1984-1996). He has a personal best jump of 2.34m (7'8"), and finished fifth at the Tokyo World Championships (1991) and eighth at the Barcelona Olympics (1992).
 
During his years of active competition, Drake completed his university degree in sports and physical training at the Manuel Fajardo Institute of Advanced Sports and Physical Culture at the University of Havana, with a concentration in track and field.
 
Following his undergraduate studies, Drake expanded his coaching skills by completing the IAAF first level coaching certification and a post-graduate course in Sports Psychology. Drake completed his USATF Level II Certification in Jumps in 2007.
 
Upon retiring as an athlete in 1996, Drake was named assistant coach for the Cuban National team where he worked with the national selection of high jumpers. From 1998 to 2000, he represented Cuba as a visiting coach with the National Track & Field team of the Dominican Republic in preparation for the 2002 Pan American Games. Following his assignment in the Dominican Republic, he was promoted to Sub-Director of the Cuban National team where he was in charge of educational development and gained extensive administrative and management experience.
 
Drake came to the United States in 2002. Before coming to NCCU, he was a volunteer track and field coach with Johns Hopkins University and the University of South Carolina. He has also worked as a personal trainer with a wide range of athletes, including Major League Baseball players.
 
Bernard Austin: Assistant Coach – Hurdles
 
Coach Bernard "Hollywood" Austin, a Hillside High School graduate, is in his 13th year with the NCCU track & field program.
 
"Rarely do you find the experience, wisdom and knowledge of the sport, especially hurdles, that we have in Coach Austin," said Walker. "I've had the immense pleasure of working with him for over 12 years and his track & field IQ is of tremendous value to our staff and student-athletes. Over the years, he has coached our hurdlers to conference and national recognitions and he has done so with top recruits and walk-ons. He has been a rock for our student-athletes and epitomizes what it means to be a coach."
 
After a successful football and track career at North Carolina A&T State University, Austin played defensive back for the Washington Redskins and later entered the U.S. Army for three years, serving in Germany and combat duty in South Vietnam.
 
Austin had coaching stints at Durham High School, Riverside High School and with the Durham Striders Youth Track Club, where he produced numerous state and national hurdle champions, before he began assisting with the hurdlers at NCCU.
 
As a master certified track & field official, Austin has been a highly sought-after official on both the collegiate and elite circuits, thus enabling him to server in the sport for over 30 years. On the collegiate level, he has produced numerous conference and national qualifiers at the Division I and Division II ranks, in both the high and intermediate hurdles.