Kentucky Track and Field Adds Leevan Sands as New Assistant Coach
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky track and field and head coach Lonnie Greene have announced the hiring of Leevan Sands as the program’s latest addition to the 2025-26 coaching staff.
Sands will take over as an assistant coach for the Wildcats, primarily working with the horizontal jumps group.
Prior to his move to Lexington, Sands spent two seasons as an assistant jumps coach at Florida State and two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Northern Colorado.
During the 2022 outdoor season, Sands led Florida State’s Jeremiah Davis and Isaac Grimes to a second and third-place finish, respectively, at the NCAA Championships in the long jump final. That same year, Sands helped the Seminoles’ Davis, who would go on to finish seventh, and Jacore Irving to qualify for the NCAA men’s triple jump final.
Before turning to coaching, Sands boasted a 13-year professional career that was highlighted by winning the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in the triple jump, while representing his home country of the Bahamas. He is a four-time Olympian and 12-time Bahamas national champion and currently holds the national record in the men’s outdoor triple jump (17.59m) and the indoor long jump (8.10m).
In 2015, he won the silver medal at the Pan American Games and earned a bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the 2003 World Championships, and the 2015 North American, Central American, and Caribbean Championships.
Sands later became a spokesperson for the Bahamas in 2008, helping mentor the country’s young athletes, including 2016 NCAA triple jump champion, Latario Collie, of the University of Texas.
Sands graduated from Auburn University in 2005 with a degree in education. During his collegiate career, he was a two-time NCAA Champion, first in 2003 in the men’s long jump and again in 2004 in the men’s triple jump.
Following the 2004 season, Sands was named the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Prior to his collegiate career, Sands was the Gatorade Athlete of the Year after winning gold in the long, triple, and high jump at the High School National Championships in 1999. He was also the indoor high school champion in both the long jump and the triple jump, setting the triple jump record of 52’8”.
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