Jarrett Slaven
Head CoachAlma Mater: Youngstown State, 1968
E-mail: jslaven@ut.edu
Office Phone: 813-257-3644
In his 11th season as the head cross country/track coach at the University of Tampa, Jarrett Slaven has turned a walk-on program into a heavily recruited nationally ranked team.
Under his guidance, the Spartan women captured the school’s first ever NCAA II South Regional title in 2004 and added back-to-back crowns in 2007 and 2008.
He has also led the women to seven Sunshine State Conference titles, and had the SSC’s Runner of the Year in seven of the last eight seasons. In 2008, Jessica Forrester became the first Spartan to be named the South Region Runner of the Year.
At Tampa, Slaven has coached 22 female runners to first-team all-SSC honors with a total of 28 all-SSC honorees. On the men's side, UT has had 12 first-team selections and 23 total award winners from the SSC. He has also guided seven females to SSC Runner of the Year distinction and two males to the same honor.
Slaven has also led the men’s team to six consecutive seasons as SSC runner-up with two Conference Runner of the Year awards under his direction. The men have competed in seven consecutive NCAA South Regionals while advancing to the NCAA Championships in 2007.
The seven time SSC Coach of the Year has led the women's team to six straight NCAA Championship appearances while making seven consecutive NCAA South Regionals.
The UT women have been nationally ranked for seven consecutive seasons and have been ranked as high as 10th in the country in 2004. The Spartans made their first appearance at the NCAA II Championship meet in 2003, finishing eighth overall.
Under Slaven, UT has finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Finals a total of three times. UT was eighth in 2003 and 2004 and placed 10th in 2007. The Spartans are coming off a 14th place finish last season.
Slaven has a strong coaching background at both the college and high school levels. He started at Chamberlain High School where he coached for 12 years, winning a girls state championship with an undefeated squad and collecting four conference championships. Slaven was also the Hillsborough County Coach of the Year on one occasion. Slaven served as the head coach at Chamberlain from 1975-78.
From there, Slaven took over the University of South Florida men’s cross country program where he won four Sun Belt Conference championships in five years while serving as the head coach from 1978-84. Slaven left competitive coaching but remained active in the Tampa Bay area working with several athletes through the years before returning coming to UT in 1999.
A Youngstown, Ohio native, Slaven graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor’s degree in education, then furthered his education with a master’s degree in physical education at the University of Florida. While at Florida, he ran competitively for the Florida Track Club where his team won two consecutive AAU titles.
Slaven served nearly 25 years as a United States Probation Officer before retiring in 1999. He and his wife Patricia now reside in Brandon. They have two daughters and a grandson.
