Dror Vaknin

Bio

Dror Vaknin is in his 12th year as head coach of the men's cross country and track teams after spending 17 seasons as an assistant coach with the Spartans.

As head coach of the University of Tampa men's cross country program, Dror Vaknin has guided the Spartans to both athletic and academic success. Under his leadership, Tampa has produced five First Team All-Sunshine State Conference selections, including Tyler Blackburn in 2015, Trevor Kattenburg in 2018 and 2020, Devon Sullivan in 2020, Shane Cohen in 2022, and William Poe in 2025.

The program has also excelled in the classroom, producing two CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees in Lars Benner and Matt Hoffman during the 2015-16 academic year. Benner further became the program's first and only CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning second-team honors in 2017. Additionally, the Spartans earned recognition from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team in 2015, reflecting the program's commitment to excellence both on the course and in the classroom under Vaknin's leadership.

Prior to coming to the Spartans, Vaknin had two coaching stints at USF, one from 1991-94 and the other from 1996-2000.

As the assistant, Vaknin was in charge of the full preparation and coaching of the Tampa men's cross-country team. Under Vaknin, the Tampa men's team has transformed into a national contender.

While coaching two-time SSC Runner of the Year Elias Gonzalez (2002-03), Vaknin has coached 12 runners to first-team all-SSC honors and a total of 28 members to league mention. He has also placed 13 runners on the All-South Region team. 

The UT men have now appeared in 18 consecutive NCAA South Regionals, including a program-best finish of second in 2007 and 2011. Tampa also advanced to the NCAA Finals for the first time in 2007 and 2011, finishing 22nd and 24th in the nation, respectively.

Aside from coaching at the collegiate level, Vaknin has served as head coach for distance-training teams. Since 1992, he has been the head coach for the Progressive Training Team and has held the same position with Team Leukemia since 1994. During his competing days, Vaknin was a standout runner at both the high school and collegiate levels.

In high school, he won the Florida High School Cross Country Individual Championship in 1985. Then in 1988, he won the Sun Belt Conference Championship while attending USF. He also became USF’s first NCAA track qualifier in the 10k in 1991. That year he finished 16th nationally. He is still the 10k record holder at USF with a time of 29:25.

Dror is a graduate of the University of South Florida and a native of Kiriyat Gaf, Israel. He resides in Tampa with his son, Noah.