Utah Valley University Track & Field head coach Scott Houle has announced the hiring of Ian Dildine to his coaching staff in the fall of 2023. Dildine will coach the multis and vertical jumps and joins Houle’s staff following the recent promotion of associate head coach Paul Smith.
Dildine spent the 2022-23 season on staff at Southern Arkansas University. He also has stints at the University of Sioux Falls, the University of South Dakota, and Fresno City College.
“What attracted me to this position is the vision that Coach Houle and Coach Smith have for the program. I'm excited to work with such a talented group of athletes! I'm grateful for the opportunity Southern Arkansas University gave me and I'm ready for what the future holds at Utah Valley University,” said Dildine.
“Ian was a really good athlete and someone we actually recruited to come here but he opted to stay closer to home,” Houle said. “He’s gotten some good coaching experience where he’s been, including South Dakota, where he worked with one of the best pole vault coaches in the world. He’ll be a wonderful mentor for our men and women in the high jump, pole vault, and multis. We’re excited to get him going.”
At Southern Arkansas, an NCAA Division II program, Dildine worked with horizontal jumps and high jump, where he coached freshman Keith Smith to a second-place finish in the triple jump at the 2023 Great American Conference Championships. He also coached three others to top five finishes in the triple jump, long jump, and high jump and a trio of top three finishes. His athletes also earned 39 personal records, set six indoor school records, and had two National Provisional qualifiers.
At Sioux Falls he coached all vertical and horizontal jumps and had 40 personal best marks, two Northern Sun Conference Championship podium finishers, and had five set top 10 all-time marks in school history.
Dildine’s time at South Dakota was spent as a graduate assistant, where he helped develop the training for sprints and jumps while assisting with the pole vault and multis. His tenure there included the 2020 Summit League Indoor long jump champion, 40 personal records, eight podium finishes and seven top 10 school marks.
A native of Fresno, California, Dildine spent his first two seasons of college athletics competing at Fresno City College. He then transferred to Northern Arizona University and spent one season there before finishing his career at Central Washington University.
Dildine earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Central Washington, and a master’s degree in kinesiology and sport management from South Dakota.
