Coach McDaniel's Full Bio(pdf) | Follow Coach MacDaniel on Twitter (@KennyMacASU)
Heading into his fifth year with the Sun Devil program, Kenny McDaniel's women's sprint, hurdle and relay student-athletes continue to improve under his direction while challenging for conference and national titles. With a highly energetic and passionate approach to helping his student-athletes improve both on the track and in life, McDaniel has a proven track record of success that continues to help the Sun Devil program excel each year.
Whether the competition is local, regional, national or international, McDaniel's athletes are always prepared to compete and succeed. In 2011, the women's sprints, hurdles and relay athletes combined to earn All-America honors in four individual events and two relays while adding four individual conference titles. Jasmine Chaney led the way as she earned All-America honors in the indoor 200m dash and 4x400m relay before adding honors in the 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay outdoors. At the USA Championships, she ran a time of 55.22 to finish third and earn a berth on Team USA for the IAAF World Championships in the 400m hurdles while also breaking a 16 year-old school record. Now a professional athlete, Chaney won the 200m and 400m titles at the MPSF Indoor Championships before taking the 400m dash title at the Pac-10 Championships. Another athlete he worked with was Samantha Henderson, who won the Pac-10 heptathlon crown and was an All-American in the same event outdoors.
But all that success didn't just start in the 2011 season. In 2010, Chaney scored in five events at the Pac-10s before qualifying nationally in the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles, earning All-America honors in the longer event. One year before that, Charonda Williams earned a spot on Team USA for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin after breaking numerous school records during the collegiate season before.
Prior to that, McDaniel's hurdlers shone bright as Chaney and Keia Pinnick both reached the NCAA Final meet in the 400m hurdles, making ASU one of four teams to qualify two women in the long hurdle event. Chaney's qualification in the 100m hurdles also made her one of just four women nationally to reach the national final in both hurdles. Overall, Chaney placed fifth in the 400m hurdles to earn All-America honors and score the lone points for the team at the NCAA event. Chaney, who finished third at the Pac-10s in the 100m dash (11.74), 100m hurdles (13.46) and 200m dash (23.72), ran 57.67 in the 400m hurdles to qualify for the national meet and record the fifth-best time in school history. Also, Dominique' Maloy showed great improvement, lowering her personal best time in the 400m dash from 54.45 to 52.69.
One year prior, perhaps the greatest story of the 2009 season was a product of hard work and instruction from McDaniel as Williams broke numerous school records, held some of the top times in the nation and capped her year with a trip to Berlin in the 200m dash. Williams, a relative newcomer to the track, lowered her time in the 100m from 11.61 to 11.14 and also dropped her 200m time from 23.62 to a windy 22.39 to reset the school records that had stood for over 13 years. She also took down the school records indoors in the 60m (7.31) and the 200m (22.89). Williams, who later signed an endorsement deal with adidas, capped her final season with four All-America honors in the short sprints (6th indoor 60m, 3rd indoor 200m, 6th outdoor 100m, 2nd outdoor 200m) and added three more on the relays.
Two other short sprinters also improved their personal best times over the year and moved up on the ASU all-time lists, including Maloy and Chaney. Maloy, who entered the year with a best of 11.9 in the 100m, dropped her time to 11.39, the third-fastest all-time at ASU, while Chaney improved in both hurdle events, running 13.26 and 58.15 after entering the season with times of 13.74 in the 100m hurdles and 60.57 in the 400m hurdles, respectively. Chaney now ranks fifth all-time at ASU in both events.
McDaniel's relay squads continued to shine as well as all three sprint relays earned All-America honors in 2009, including the indoor 4x400m team of Maloy, Shauntel Elcock, Williams and Jeavon Benjamin, who finished second in the nation in 3:34.30, the fourth-best time in school history. Outdoors, the team of Elcock, Benjamin, Chaney and Maloy combined to run 3:31.62 (seventh-best all-time at ASU) to take fifth nationally while the group of Maloy, Kayla Sanchez, Chaney and Williams clocked a time of 43.76 (second-best all-time at ASU) to finish fifth nationally.
On the conference level, McDaniel's group turned in impressive performances, including Williams, who swept the 100m and 200m events at the Pac-10 meet for the second year in a row, making her first woman in Pac-10 history to sweep both short sprint titles in back-to-back seasons. Along with the 4x100m relay title and a second-place finish in the 4x400m relay, McDaniel's runners added six more Top 8 finishes at the meet, including runner-up honors in the 200m dash for Maloy to give ASU the Top 2 places in the event. In all, six different women combined to qualify regionally in nine individual events on the year with both relays also making the meet.
In his first year on staff, McDaniel's group collected five All-America honors and three Pac-10 titles to help the women defend their NCAA Indoor Championship and win the Pac-10 for third year in a row. McDaniel molded several sprinters into rising stars as his athletes showed great improvements in their times throughout the season. Working with the likes of 2008 U.S. Olympian Jacquelyn Johnson, U.S. Olympic Trials semifinalist Williams and true freshman Maloy, the Sun Devil women lowered their times while climbing high on both the national order lists and the ASU all-time record lists.
At the championship level, his 4x400m relay of Benjamin, Jordan Durham, Elcock and Maloy combined to win the Pac-10 title while also earning All-America honors at the indoor and outdoor meets. At the NCAA Indoor meet, the quartet clocked a time of 3:33.63 to finish third and secure the team title for ASU. That time stands as the second-fastest in school history while their fifth-place time of 3:31.74 outdoors ranks seventh in ASU annals.
His work with Johnson helped the seven-time NCAA champion lower her 100m hurdle time from 13.31 to 13.19, gaining her valuable points in the heptathlon and a ticket to Beijing. Williams' lowered times brought about historic mentions as she won the 100m and 200m events at the Pac-10 meet, making her only the ninth woman in conference history to achieve that double. She advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Trials after lowering her personal best time of 23.53 to 23.09. Her fellow short sprinter experienced the same effects in the 200m dash as Maloy went from 24.93 to 23.28.
Prior to his arrival in Tempe, McDaniel spent three seasons (2005-07) coaching the men's and women's sprints, hurdles and relays at CS Fullerton and guided six individuals (three men and three women) and one women's relay to Big West titles. His athletes also reset 14 total school records, including seven women's individual events, all four women's relays and three individual men's events. During his tenure, he guided 25 student-athletes to the NCAA West Region meet, including two relays and seven individuals in 2007. That same year, only 13 men qualified for the 100m dash at the NCAA West Region meet with CSUF's Marques Barosso and Jon Pratter making the Titans one of three schools (ASU and Washington State were the others) to have multiple entries into the event.
McDaniel's first coaching job came in 2000 as he was hired to coach the men's and women's sprints, hurdles and relays at San Francisco State. While with the Gators (2000-04), his student-athletes accounted for three school records while a pair of sprinters qualified in the 100m and 200m dash at the NCAA Division II Championships. His student-athletes also garnered 10 total All-CCAA honors. Before taking his position at SFSU, McDaniel served as a student assistant coach (2000) at his Alma Mater, Pittsburgh State University in Pittsburgh, Kan. A 1999 graduate with a degree in General Studies with an emphasis in Kinesiology and Nutrition, McDaniel ran for the Gorillas for two years. In 1997, he earned All-MIAA accolades in the indoor 55m hurdles as well as both the 110m high hurdles and the 400m hurdles during the outdoor season. McDaniel opened his collegiate career in 1995 at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, where he competed for one year. That year, the Buccaneers captured the 1995 NJCAA title before the school discontinued the program. McDaniel transferred to Kansas City Community College in Kansas City, Kan., for his sophomore season and earned All-America honors after placing fifth in the 55m hurdles.
A native of Longview, Texas, and graduate of Longview HS, McDaniel attained his USATF Level II Sprints and Hurdles certification in the summer of 2006.