| Matt McGee |
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BORN: September 27, 1979
HOMETOWN: Berkeley, California
COLLEGE: College of Marin (A.A., 2001), Washington State University (B.A., 2003)
WIFE: Karla
CHILDREN: Son Liam
COACHING EXPERIENCE: Diablo Valley College, 2003-04, assistant coach; Washington State University, 2004-05, volunteer assistant coach
WSU APPOINTMENT: 2005 - Assistant track and field coach
As one of the most successful young coaches in the country Coach McGee continues to guide the WSU jumpers towards greatness, building upon the program's already outstanding legacy in the Jumping events.
In 2008 Cougar high jumper Trent Arrivey won the NCAA West Regional high jump title improving his previous best more than three inches to 2.22 meters (7-3 1/4). Arrivey competed at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets, finishing ninth in June and earning All-America honors.
During the 2007 season McGee's first responsible for coaching all jumping events, the WSU jumpers showed tremendous improvement across the board.
The highlight was pole vaulter Tyson Byers' improvement to 18- 1/2 placing third at the NCAA indoor championships earning All-American honors.
Moreno Zapata and Arrivey both placed in the top three at the Pac-10 Championships. Zapata also finished second in the triple jump at the NCAA West Regional championships improving to a best of 51-9 1/4. Also the first time in school history, WSU had three women over 40-feet in the triple jump with Sarah Burns at 41-5, Catie Schuetzle at 41-3 1/4, and Kaylee Gardner at 40-10 1/4. All three advanced to the NCAA West Regional Championships.
In 2006 three of McGee's four high jumpers scored at the Pac-10 Championships and sophomore McKinnon Hanson advanced to the NCAA Championships.
He was promoted to a fulltime assistant coaching position in the summer of 2005 after spending the previous year as a volunteer. McGee is currently responsible for coaching all of the jumping events for the Cougs after coaching only the high jump and assisting Sloan with the other jumps and multis in 2006.
McGee said, "As the coach one of my most important duties is ensuring that performance does not suffer while teaching proper mechanics by carefully selecting and ordering the adjustments to make."
A former Cougar, McGee returned to WSU after spending 2003-2004 season as an assistant track and field coach at Diablo Valley College where he was responsible for jumps, throws, and multis, in addition to developing the strength conditioning program.
Born in San Francisco California, McGee attended College of Marin and Diablo Valley College in the Bay Area, competing as a decathlete.
He transferred to WSU and walked-on the team as a junior. He was a two time Pac-10 scorer highlighted by a second place finish in the javelin at the 2003 Pac-10 Championships.
McGee graduated in May 2003 with a B.A. in philosophy. He was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic and Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar second team and awarded a Pac-10 post-graduate scholarship. He is working on an M.S. in exercise science degree with an emphasis in biomechanics at the University of Idaho.
McGee is married to former Cougar pole vaulter Karla McGee, they have one son, Liam Karim, and a daughter due in early 2009.
