John Ellis

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John Ellis joined the Sun Devils as the jumps and multis coach in July 2019 after five years (2014-19) at Southern Mississippi and has completely rejuvenated the Sun Devils’ jumping core. Ellis’ athletes have recorded seven new all-time program top-10 entries since his arrival, with five of those marks coming in the triple jump.
 
Following the canceled 2020 outdoor season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellis’ athletes returned with three-top five performances at the 2021 Pac-12 Championships, including a bronze medal finish in the men’s long jump from first-year Dylan James. Four of his jumpers then advanced to the NCAA West Prelims, with James and Amanda Carty competing in both the LJ and TJ. Heptathlete Katie Eidem had a phenomenal year, recording a PR at almost every meet and sliding herself into fifth all-time at ASU, marking the first top-10 entry since 2013.
 
At Southern Miss, Ellis was named 2019 DI South Region Assistant Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA. Ellis’ athletes combined for seven school records, 11 Conference-USA titles, and eight All-American honors, and he guided a trio of athletes to the 2019 NCAA Championships where they tallied 13 points to earn Southern Mississippi its first top-25 team finish in program history.
 
Ellis’ most successful Golden Eagles were John Warren and Eric Richards and Caleb Parker. At the NCAA Championships, Warren placed fourth in the men’s triple jump (55’0.75”).  Warren won 4 C-USA TJ titles, holds both the indoor and outdoor meet records, and set the indoor program record with a jump of 55’2”. He went on to finish seventh at the USATF Outdoor Championships.  Richards took fifth at the NCAA Championships in the high jump (7’ 4.5”). 
 
Caleb Parker finished fifth in the men’s 110m hurdle final (13.55). Parker claimed the C-USA indoor 60H record (7.77) under Ellis and ran PRs of 7.71 and 13.50. He also topped 7’ 3” in the HJ.  During the 2018 season, Ellis helped lead the Golden Eagles’ women to their first C-USA team title. 
 
Prior to coaching at Southern Mississippi, Ellis served as volunteer assistant coach at Georgia where he worked under 2014 Indoor Women's Assistant Coach of the Year Petros Kyprianou. He assisted in training heptathlon and pentathlon national champion Kendell Williams. Williams’ collegiate-record 4635 won her the 2014 indoor national title. Williams was also the 2014 world junior champion in the 100m hurdles where she ran a championship record 12.89. Ellis also assisted in the training of indoor and outdoor high jump national champion Leontia Kallenou, decathlon national champion Maicel Uibo, and triple jump national champion Keturah Orji. In 2014, the Lady Bulldogs finished third place at the NCAA Indoor National Championships.
 
Ellis began his coaching career at Western Illinois, serving as a graduate assistant where he led six Leatherneck athletes to All-Conference finishes.
 
The Portland, OR native earned his Masters degree from WIU in kinesiology and his bachelor’s in applied exercise science from Azusa Pacific University where he competed for the Cougars team under hall of fame coach Kevin Reid, earning All-Conference honors in the long jump.