Rudolph Valentine will begin his fourth season with the Methodist track and field program working primarily with the horizontal jumps. Over the last two seasons, Valentine has helped to coach Ashlynn Chavis to All-Conference and back-to-back All-American honors. In 2011, Chavis won the National Championship long jump in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
A 20-year Army veteran, Valentine participated in Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and The War in Iraq. He performed additional duties as a unit fitness trainer and head track coach for the 122 Signal Bn, 2nd Infantry Division track team while stationed in the Republic of South Korea (2000) .
A father of three, Valentine is originally from Norfolk, Va. where he attended Lake Taylor High School as a conference and regional triple jump champion from 1983-1984. Currently living in Fayetteville, N.C., Valentine received a bachelor's degree from Methodist University in Exercise Science and serves as a certified personal trainer and owner of an on-site personal training service.
He has worked as a volunteer strength and conditioning and long and triple jump coach for three Cumberland County High Schools that produced five female and two male high school regional and state qualifiers and a male two-time high school state indoor and outdoor track champion in the long and triple jump (2006-2008). The male athlete went on to win 3rd place in the triple jump and 4th in the long jump at the USATF National Championship in Omaha, Na. (2008). He later became the 2009 National Scholastic Indoor Track and Field triple jump champion where he also placed 3rd in the long jump (NY, NY).
