Oct. 7, 2004

Coral Gables, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) - University of Miami head women's track and field coach Amy Deem announces the hiring of Berry Shumpert III as assistant track coach for jumps and multi-events.

"Berry (Shumpert) brings a lot of experience and enthusiasm to our coaching staff," said Deem. "His extensive and diverse resume will be a strong asset to our growing jumps program."

Shumpert joins the Hurricane coaching staff following a three-year stint as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Tennessee.

"I am extremely excited about joining the Hurricane track and field program," said Shumpert. "Miami is a program on the rise and Coach Deem has done a tremendous job of building this program into one of the best in the country."

Last season Shumpert helped lead the Lady Vols to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and a seventh-place tie at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Last season Shumpert helped guide freshman long jumper Tianna Madison to All-America honors at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor championships, as well as runner-up finishes at the SEC Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

Madison was honored as the SEC Freshman Field Event Athlete of the Year and went on to win the long jump at the 2004 USA Junior National Championships in College Station, Texas and qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif.

Shumpert's extensive resume includes two stints as an assistant coach for the men's and women's teams at Coastal Carolina University. He left Coastal Carolina to join his wife, a fourth-year student at the University of Tennessee's College of Veterinarian Medicine.

In his 3 1/2 years with the Chanticleers, Shumpert coached male and female jumpers, sprinters and hurdlers, and trained nine Big South champions and 18 all-conference performers. He also helped the women's track and field team to three Big South outdoor and two Big South indoor runner-up finishes, and aided the 1998 men's squad to a second-place conference placing outdoors.

Between his two stints at Coastal Carolina, Shumpert coached at Radford University where he served as the assistant men's and women's track and field coach before being promoted to head coach.

During his 1999 campaign, as recruiting coordinator, he secured the largest signing class in the program's history, landing six high school state champions. He also tutored four Big South champions and seven All-Big South standouts.

A 1993 graduate of Alabama A&M with a degree in business/marketing, Shumpert was an All-SIAC performer as a member of the track and field team. A native of Alabama, Shumpert has assisted in the development of track and field athletes on the high school, club and youth levels in his home state, founding the Space City Comets track club in Huntsville and serving as an assistant track coach at Johnson High School in Huntsville and Blount High School in Mobile.

Shumpert, who also served as a counselor with the University of Tennessee's Office of Academic Enrichment, received his master's in sport management from Tennessee in the spring of 2004.