David Pickett was named an men's and women's assistant cross country and track and field coach in December 2020.
In Pickett’s first season with the Colgate, both track & field teams had stellar 2020-21 seasons. Both men’s and women’s teams finished second at both the Colgate Invitational and the Patriot League Pod Meet. Both teams had strong showings at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships with two athletes on the women’s team qualifying for the ECAC/IC4A Championships.
Pickett joins the Colgate staff after a four-year stint at North Greenville, where he was voted by his peers as the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Men’s Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year in 2019. Pickett served as the director of sprints, hurdles, and jumps, while also assisting in day-to-day operations for cross country and track and field during his time in South Carolina.
While at North Greenville, Pickett helped guide his team to six national championship appearances, 17 Conference Carolina titles, 30 program records, and six conference records.
Pickett’s 4x100 relay team in 2019 was the Division II National Runner-Up. He aided in the development of 53 All-Conference selections, five athletes to 14 NCAA qualifying marks, 13 All-American honors, four USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and two USTFCCCA Southeast Regional Athletes of the Year.
Those Southeast Regional Athletes of the Year, JJ Sherman and Tevin Richardson, garnered 10 combined All-American honors for the men’s track and field program. He also helped Shekinah Wilder become the program’s first female national qualifier.
Under Pickett’s guidance, Wilder eclipsed the 12-meter barrier for the first time in her career, leaping 40 feet, 2.75 inches, which ranked her indoors as the 10th best jumper in the country. In his first season, Pickett coached Sherman to a fourth place finish in the 60 (6.71) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Sherman became the first North Greenville athlete of any sport to earn First-Team All-American honors.
Pickett joined North Greenville in 2016 after three seasons as an assistant at Milligan College. There, he coached two AAC Champions and several all-conference performers in the sprints, hurdles and multi-events.
Prior to his stint at Milligan, Pickett spent a season at East Tennessee State as a volunteer assistant, where he assisted in the coaching of a women's 4x100 relay team that earned All-American honors at the NCAA DI Championships.
In 2012, Pickett helped facilitate training for US Olympic Medalist and World Champion Manteo Mitchell. Mitchell won a silver medal at the London Olympic Games as a member of the United States’ 4x400 relay team.
Pickett is a 2010 graduate of North Carolina-Asheville where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness. Pickett was a member of the track & field team and served as a student assistant for their athletic communications department. He completed his Master’s degree in Kinesiology and Sport Management in 2013 at East Tennessee State.
