Randolph Duane Ross (born December 5, 1972) is an American collegiate

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

coach, and former athlete, specializing in the

110 meters hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurd ...

. He is currently the Director of Track and Field programs for the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

and is best known for winning the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

at the

1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, between the Augus ...

and representing the United States at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. Ross also won the 1995

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

championship in the 110-meter hurdles, and as a 7-time All-American and 5 Time ACC champion is

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

's most decorated male hurdler.

Biography

Early life

Ross was born in

Shelby, North Carolina Shelby is a city in and the county seat of Cleveland County, North Carolina. It lies near the western edge of the Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte-Concord, North Carolina, Concord, North Carolina, NC-South Carolina, SC Charlotte metropolitan a ...

, and grew up in

Dallas, North Carolina Dallas is a town in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States, and a suburb of Charlotte, located north of Gastonia. The population was 4,488 at the 2010 census. It was named for George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States under ...

, where he attended North Gaston High School. At the encouragement of his Football coach, Ross took up track and field as a way to rehabilitate an injured ankle. As a junior, Ross went on to become NCHSAA state champion in the

110 metres Hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a rac ...

. After receiving a number of scholarships from various collegiate teams, Ross signed with

Athletic career

As a college athlete at

, he won the 110 m hurdles at the 1995 NCAA championships for the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level (NCAA Divis ...

. He made his first appearance on the world track stage at the

1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault. There were a total nu ...

, where he finished fourth in the 60 meters hurdles competition, just behind compatriot

Tony Dees Anthony Michael Dees (born August 6, 1963, in Pascagoula, Mississippi) is a former American hurdler. Dees won the silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona behind Mark McKoy. He then finished third at the 1993 World Indoor Champi ...

. He returned at the

1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 7th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the Green Dome Maebashi stadium in Maebashi, Japan from March 5 to March 7, 1999. It was the first time the Championships were staged outside Europe or North America. Primo Nebi ...

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It was ...

, but again failed to reach the podium with another fourth-place finish, this time losing out to

Falk Balzer Falk Balzer (born 14 December 1973 in Leipzig) is a former German hurdler and the son of former East German hurdler Karin Balzer. He is best known for winning the silver medal at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary and the br ...

. He had greater success outdoors that year, as he won the

in the 110 m hurdles at the

in his career personal best time of 13.12 seconds. An appearance at the 1999 IAAF Grand Prix Final, however, brought yet another fourth-place finish.Ross Duane

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 2010-04-27. He was the runner up at the 2004 United States Olympic Trials and competed at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece. He failed to reach the final after running 13.30 seconds for fifth place in the semi-finals of the men's hurdles competition. Following the analysis of information received from BALCO in 2010, Ross was called to testify in a case against his coach Trevor Graham. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspended Ross for two years for attempted use, possession, and trafficking of

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve at ...

. As a term of his suspension, all his results from November 2001 onward were nullified.

Coaching career

He returned to Clemson as a volunteer coach and in 1996. After retiring from international competition, Ross was hired by

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

Methodist University Methodist University is a private university that is affiliated with the North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and S ...

as Head Coach of their Track and Field program. While at Methodist, Ross coached the women's team to three

Mason–Dixon Conference The Mason–Dixon Conference is a defunct NCAA Division II (former ''NCAA College Division'') athletics conference, formed in 1936 and disbanded in October 1978. A track championship bearing the conference's name continued for several years after ...

championships and placed in the top four at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Ross also earned USTFCCCA South/Southeast Region Coach of the Year honors. In 2012, after five seasons at Methodist, Ross was hired as director of track & field at Division I North Carolina A&T University. Under Ross, the Aggies swept both the men's and women's outdoor and indoor Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships for the first time in program history. Following the success of the 2017 seasons, Ross coached 13 athletes, more than any

HBCU Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

in history, who competed in the 2017 NCAA Division I National Championships. In 2021, after leading North Carolina A&T's men's track and field team to a third place finish at the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Ross was named 2021 NCAA co-coach of the year. Four athletes from the team went on to compete in the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, including Ross's son Randolph Ross and Trevor Stewart. In May 2022, Ross was hired as the new head coach at Tennessee, signing a five-year contract for $450,000 annually.

Statistics

Personal bests

60m Hurdles progression

110m Hurdles progression

International competitions

National competitions

Coaching record

References

External links

Duane Ross
at

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Duane 1972 births Living people American male hurdlers African-American track and field athletes Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists Clemson Tigers men's track and field athletes American sportspeople in doping cases North Carolina A&T Aggies track and field coaches Clemson Tigers track and field coaches People from Dallas, North Carolina 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 21st-century American sportsmen