Roland Whiting enters his seventh season as head coach of the men’s and women’s track and field programs in 2018-19. He also previously served as the head coach of the men's and women's cross country teams at Methodist for his first three seasons.
The 2016-17 track & field season was the most successful for the Monarchs under Whiting. During the indoor season Chelsea Johnson became the program's first female All-American since 2012 with her sixth-place finish in the 60-meter dash at the National Championships. The success carried over to the outdoor season as three Monarchs qualified for the NCAA Championships. Johnson and Jovani Culver each qualified in the women's 100m, while Erran Greene qualified in the men's 400m. Greene and Johnson earned All-America honors, the first time since 2012 that MU had both male and female All-Americans at the same championship meet.
Methodist boasted seven athletes that earned a total of nine All-South/Southeast Region honors during the indoor season, and five athletes that earned a total of seven All-Region honors during the outdoor season.
In his first three seasons at MU, Whiting saw a pair of athletes qualify for the NCAA track & field championships, and he led the men’s cross country team to a second-place finish at the 2013 conference championships. In 2013, Reggie Scales qualified in 12th place (10.66) for the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships in the 100m dash and wound up finishing 14th nationally with a time of 10.83. The following year, Donte Smith qualified for the Outdoor Championships in the 400m with a time of 48.21. He finished in 15th place after running a time of 48.85 in the prelims.
On the cross country side, MU led the 2013 men’s team to a second-place finish as both Sydney Machokoto and Eduardo Riera earned First Team All-USA South honors with third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively. The second-place finish marked the highest finish for the Monarchs since a second-place finish in 2006.
Whiting spent the previous four seasons as head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country teams at Neumann University. He joined Neumann when the programs were reinstated in 2008 following a seven-year hiatus. After his first year, the Knights decided to add track and field and Whiting built the program from the ground up coaching both programs his final two years.
Whiting worked to build both programs during his tenure at Neumann. Most recently, the women’s cross country team placed fourth at the conference championships. Since the reinstatement of cross country the program has produced more than 30 All-Academic Conference athletes. In the Knights’ short track and field history, Whiting’s programs began to receive national and regional recognition with their first NCAA track and field championships appearance, which produced their first All-American. Whiting also coached six All-ECAC performers and 18 Mason Dixon All-Conference performers.
Before coaching at Neumann, Whiting was an assistant coach on Lincoln’s 2007 NCAA Division III national championship indoor team. Whiting helped to train several All-American athletes at Lincoln including 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year finalist Ashley Parker.
Whiting was a 12-time All-American and a member of five NCAA Division III national championship teams as a student-athlete at Lincoln. He is also a member of the school record 4x100-meter relay team. Whiting earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education & Recreation.
Prior to returning to Lincoln, Whiting was an assistant track and field coach at Widener University, where he helped the Pride win three Middle-Atlantic Conference championships. He also coached four All-Americans and a host of national championship qualifiers. Whiting also coached at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia where he produced nine all-Catholic athletes and five state qualifiers.
Whiting is a member of USTFCCCA and USATF associations.
