Turney Sets Oregon State Triple Jump Record At Oregon Preview
John Parks, who has an extensive track and field resume spanning nearly three decades, begins his fourth season as a volunteer assistant with Oregon State.
For the past three years, he has coached OSU's male sprinters, including indoor 60m record holder Markus Wheaton and the program's 4x100 relay team which made it to the finals at the Pac-12 Championships in 2012. That group became the first OSU relay squad to compete at a league meet since 1988.
In 2008-09 Parks was an assistant at Portland State, where he oversaw a pair of school record holders, 25 student-athletes who qualified for Big Sky Championships and 21 who achieved all-time top-10 performances at the school.
Before that, Parks was an assistant at Willamette University (1999-2002) and coached two NCAA Division III national champions in the high jump and decathlon.
Individually, Parks has coached some of the biggest names in track and field. He has tutored 2012 Olympic silver medalist Ryan Bailey since high school, helping him to the 100m 21-and-under world record (9.88) and the sixth-best 200m in the world in 2010 (20.10). Parks also coached Jordan Boase in 2011-12. The former 400m Pac-10 Champion was a 2012 Olympic Trials qualifier after ranking in the top 20 in the world in the 400m in 2011 and top 30 in the 200m.
At the high school level, Parks has served as the head coach at McKay High School (1999-2006) and Pelham High School (1996-99) and as an assistant at Mountain Brook High School (1992-95). At McKay his teams won six league titles and had student-athletes set 20 school records and sign 37 collegiate scholarships. His tutelage saw Oregon all-time records set in the 100m, 200m, 4x100 and 4x200.
Park's Pelham teams won four state titles in track and cross country and included 11 high school all-Americans and 47 individual and relay state champions. He had student-athletes set four all-time state records and coached 38 who signed collegiate scholarships. While there, his teams featured individuals who broke school records in every indoor and outdoor event.
From 1992-93 Parks was the program director at Sport Speed Development where he worked with 1984 Olympic sprint gold medalist Willie Smith. He also ran speed and quickness camps for all sports and trained athletes from the professional (NFL and MLB) down to the youth levels to improve athletic performance.
In the mid to late 1980's, he coached at two of the top programs in the South, serving as an assistant at Auburn (1988-91) and as the head coach at Alabama-Birmingham (1985-88). With the Tigers, Parks coached multi and field events and directed the team's strength program. He assisted in the coaching of an NCAA Champion, eight NCAA All-Americans as well as 1991 world 400m hurdles champion Samuel Matete.
At UAB, Parks established the university's program from scratch, which defeated defending national champion Alabama in a four-way meet during its third season in existence. He coached an Olympic Trails qualifier in the heptathlon and an NCAA All-American.
For a large part of his career (1983-99), Parks also served as the meet director of the Vulcan Classic, annually the largest cross country meet in the South and once called the "best meet in America" by USA TODAY. He has been the editor of various track publications including, Collegiate Track Weekly, The Harrier, Southern Track and Inside Track and served as a correspondent for Track and Field News.
