MELBOURNE, Fla. – Florida Tech's Head Coach of Men's Cross Country and Indoor/Outdoor Track, Pete Mazzone, announces Berfrantz Charles as the track program's Associate Head Coach.
Coach Mazzone says, "Coach Charles is a welcome addition to our Coaching Staff and Department. He has a teaching and college coaching background and is an excellent communicator. He understands college athletes and comes to us with an excellent coaching pedigree in sprints, jumps, throws, etc. Our team was excited when they met him several weeks ago, and we can't wait to start working with him."
Charles joins the Panthers after spending eight seasons as an assistant track and field coach at Virginia Union University in sprints and jumps for the men's and women's teams.
"I am overly excited for this opportunity, not only to help develop this program but to help build a lasting legacy here at Florida Tech," said Charles. "We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come to reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort." - Jesse Owens.
Several athletes earned great recognition at Virginia Union during the 2023-24 season. Charles coached six outdoor and two indoor track All-State Team members for the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID), including his 400-meter relay team and sprinter Jalen Hinton, who earned First Team honors.
Charles was crucial in leading three CIAA Track and Field Players of the Week and Hinton's MVP status at the CIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Two seasons prior, he coached Charles Hall to a silver medal in the long jump at the CIAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. He also coached Jordan Pebbles to a CIAA Field Athlete of the Week award for his triple jump victory at the Fred Hardy Invitational during the 2021-22 season.
Charles not only coached Hall to a silver medal, but Hall also earned NCAA All-Region during the 2019-20 campaign. Charles guided the men's team to third place at the CIAA Track and Field Championships for the third straight season.
In his first season at Virginia Union, Charles trained the Atlantic Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year, Ed'Treon Wilcox, and the CIAA Athlete of the Year in Running Events, Devin Simon. With the help of those two athletes and CIAA long jump champion Chaz McKenzie, Charles led the men's squad to a third-place finish at both the Outdoor and Indoor CIAA Championships.
An Alum of Virginia Union, Charles competed on the Panthers track and field team from 2012-2015. In that span, Charles was a three-time CIAA champion long jumper and a five-time CIAA Field MVP. Charles qualified for the NCAA Division II Provisional eight times in four different events: three times in men's 60-meter dash in indoor track, three times in men's long jump indoors, and once during outdoor season. He also qualified in the men's 400-meter relay in the 2014 outdoor track season, earning First Team All-American.
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