Alex Kemp starts his first season as head men's and women's track & field coach at Black Hills State in 2024-25 following a 3-year stint at East Tennessee State University as their horizontal and vertical jumps coach.
Kemp arrived in Johnson City, Tennessee, in October of 2021 as the men’s and women’s horizontal and vertical jumps coach and after one year took control of the sprints, hurdles, relays, and combined events. During his three years at ETSU he helped produce 82 SOCON finalists, which includes a trio of champions in the women’s triple jump, pole vault, and the 4x400 relay. Additionally, he coached eight second place finishes in the women’s heptathlon, triple jump, pole vault, long jump, and men’s/women’s high jump, and oversaw nine third place finishes in the women’s triple jump, long jump, and men’s/women’s 4x400 relays. His Buccaneer tenure was highlighted by a second place women’s team finish at the 2022 SOCON Indoor Track & Field Championships, the programs best finish in league championship history.
With the Buccaneers, Kemp coached athletes who received five SOCON Athlete of the Week awards, two of which were awarded to 2023 SOCON Indoor Triple Jump Champion, Tya Blake. He also guided pole vaulter Diana Romero-Barba to one SOCON Athlete of the Month recognition in 2024 after she broke both the indoor and outdoor pole-vault school records and took first place in the SOCON Outdoor Track & Field Championship, becoming the second vaulter in program history to win the event.
He was a part of the 2023-24 Buccaneer track & field coaching staff that was voted by their peers as the ETSU men’s and women’s coaching staff of the year.
Prior to East Tennessee State, Kemp, a native from Tuscola, Illinois, served as an assistant track & field coach at Frostburg State University where he helped the team transition from NCAA Division III to NCAA Division II. During his two years at FSU, he helped recruit 23 new athletes with two of the strongest recruiting classes in the last decade. He coached the 400m MEC champion, 60m record holder, and helped guide the Bobcats to 14 all-conference honors in during the 2021 outdoor season.
Kemp was a dual-sport athlete in both soccer and track at Millikin University where he earned all-conference honors in the 200m, 4x100 relay, and the 4x400 relay, while garnering 4-time academic all-conference distinction, and was once named the CCIW Athlete of the Week in 2012.
During his senior year at Millikin, he was an assistant coach for the St. Teresa High School track and cross country team in January of 2015. Kemp then took a position at Hanover College as an assistant track and cross country coach in September of 2016. His responsibilities included training pole-vaulters, jumpers, sprinters, relays and combined event athletes. Kemp brought success to the Hanover program as the team achieved both indoor and outdoor conference titles on the women's side with one national qualifier in the heptathlon. During that year he saw Hanover student-athletes break seven school records as well as have seven individual conference champions. In addition, he was a part of the HCAC Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year.
Following his stint at Hanover, Kemp earned his master’s degree in sports administration from Eastern Illinois University, while serving as an assistant coach with Tuscola High School. While at EIU he received the Outstanding Sports Administration Research Award for his work on self-control strength and its effect on sprint start reaction time.
During his high school career, Kemp set and still holds the 100m and 4x200 school records at Tuscola High School and current IHSA 1A state record.
Kemp, who now resides in Spearfish, is entering his 11th season of coaching track & field and is USTFCCCA Certified as a Jumping Event Specialist as well as a Combined Event Specialist.
