Anthony Acklin joined the Track & Field staff at ACU in July, 2024, coaching sprints, hurdles, and the combined event athletes, as well as overseeing Graduate Assistant Wayne Northover in the jumps. Acklin came to ACU with 15 years of coaching experience, including five at the Power Four level.
Acklin immediately had an impact in the 2024-2025 T&F season. ACU had two conference champions in 2025 (Ja’Dasia Sims in the indoor high jump and Canaan Fairley in the decathlon), with Canaan being coached by Acklin and Ja’Dasia being coached by graduate assistant Wayne Northover, under Acklin’s oversight. ACU also had several conference top-3 finishers coached by Acklin – Miguel Hall, 2nd place in the 60 hurdles; Canaan Fairley, 3rd place in the indoor heptathlon; Luize Velmere, 3rd in the indoor triple jump and 2nd in the outdoor triple jump; Kenan Reil, 3rd in the 400 hurdles; JaDasia Sims, 2nd in the outdoor high jump, and Natalie Poe, 3rd in the outdoor heptathlon. Both athletes who qualified for the West First Round meet in College Station – Ja’Dasia Sims and Luize Velmere - were coached by Graduate Assistant Wayne Northover, under Acklin’s oversight.
Prior to ACU, Acklin was associate head coach at Western Kentucky University for three seasons. In his time at WKU, he sent multiple athletes to the Conference USA Championship, with one podium placement. One of his sprinters was also named CUSA's Newcomer of the Year. Before WKU, Acklin made his coaching mark at Ole Miss. He sent 18 student-athletes to the NCAA Championships, including 14 who earned All-American honors. In his five seasons with the Rebels, 22 of his athletes scored at the SEC championships. He also
has numerous athletes on the women's side who made their way into the indoor and outdoor top performance lists in Ole Miss program history and he coached 43 athletes into the NCAA East Regional, including at least eight in each of his five seasons in Oxford. During his time at Ole Miss, Acklin coached two athletes who competed for Team USA at the Pan American U20 Championships – Brandy Presley (3rd in the 100 and on the winning 4x100 relay) and Jayda Eckford (2nd in the 200). At the USA U20 championships that year, Brandy won the 100 and Jayda was 2nd in the 200. Acklin coached at his alma mater of Southern Illinois for one season in 2015 before
heading to Ole Miss. Multiple athletes found their way into the record books and he coached numerous sprinters to All-Missouri Valley Conference honors. In the one season, he sent three sprinters to the NCAA West Regional. The SIU men won the MVC Outdoor Championship that year. Prior to his Division I coaching career, Acklin coached at two schools at the NJCAA (JuCo) level, producing a total of 97 All-Americans and 43 NJCAA National Champions across eight years as an assistant coach at the two institutions.
Acklin coached at Iowa Central Community College from 2009 to 2014 where he was a part of seven NJCAA National Championships. During his stint as an assistant coach for sprints, the men won three indoor national titles (2011, 2012, 2014) and the women won
three indoor (2010, 2012, 2014) and one outdoor (2013). While at ICCC, Acklin was named the NJCAA Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year on three different occasions. He also coached two male hurdlers who won the 110-meter and 400-meter national titles in 2011. In his first experience coaching, he served as an assistant coach for three seasons at Rend Lake College. The squad swept the indoor NJCAA national titles in 2008 on the men's and women's sides Acklin has coached numerous national team members including Olympic silver medalis Ryan Bailey (2012, USA, 4x100-meter relay), Adriana Bradford (2010, USA), Nathan Arnett (2010-11, Bahamas), Teshon Adderley (2012, Bahamas) and Reyare Thomas (2011-12, Trinidad and Tobago), who was a D-2 All-American for ACU after her time at
Iowa Central. Acklin graduated from Southern Illinois in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in liberal arts. He was a three-time MVC Champion with the Salukis, lettering from 2004 to 2006. He won the 110-meter hurdle titles in 2005 and 2006 and picked up the 4x100-meter relay crown in 2006. He is still amongst the Saluki record books in the 110-meter and 60- meter hurdles.
Prior to attending SIU, Acklin was a two-time NJCAA All-American at Wallace State Community College. As a native of Glassboro, N.J., he attended Triton Regional High School and was inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. As of February 2015, he is a USATF Level III and IAAF Level V certified coach in sprints and hurdles, the highest possible certification.
