Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Charles Foster has joined the Virginia Tech track and field program as an assistant coach, Tech announced on Tuesday. Foster will be in charge of the sprints, hurdles and jumps units, where he brings a wealth of experience both as an accomplished ACC coach and an Olympic runner.
“Virginia Tech and our track and field program are very fortunate to have attracted a coach with the success record of Charles Foster,” Tech Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Dave Cianelli said. “Coach Foster is a winner, in every sense of the word. He has been a part of 19 ACC championship teams during his coaching career and was a world record holder and a USA Olympian himself. Coach Foster will have a huge, positive impact on our entire program.”
In his career, Foster has coached two Olympic gold medalists, one silver medalist and a bronze medalist, along with 12 Olympians and more than 50 All-Americans. He has coached on teams that have won a total of 19 ACC team championships in track and field.
Prior to coming to Tech, Foster spent 10 years as the sprints, hurdles and relays coach for the men’s track and field team at Clemson, where the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named him the NCAA Assistant Track Coach of the Year in 2008.
Before his time with Clemson, he worked on the Special Olympics World Summer Games Organizing Committee from 1997-99, and was the Manager for Sports Planning on the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games from 1992-97. While on the committee, Foster’s responsibilities included the Olympic Stadium Hub, which entailed managing and planning for the Olympic sports of track and field, baseball, field hockey, sport shooting and softball.
Foster began his coaching career at North Carolina as an assistant track coach from 1986-92. Along with working with the sprints and hurdles units with the Tar Heels, he assisted in the design of a new track and field stadium.
As an athlete, Foster was a member of the 1976 United States Olympic Team that competed in Montreal, Canada. He won the high hurdles at the Olympic Trials that year to earn a spot on the squad. A former world record holder in the high hurdles event, Foster received the Distinguished Citizen Award of North Carolina, the highest award presented in the state.
Foster completed his undergraduate degree at North Carolina Central in 1975, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Administration. He then did two years of postgraduate studies in Therapeutic Recreation and Administration at the University of North Carolina.