Nike Track & Field Camp at Azusa Pacific University

In 2021, Hoyt was named women’s coach of the year by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as he guided the Azusa Pacific women’s outdoor track and field team to the NCAA Division II national title, the first national championship won by Azusa Pacific in any team sport as a member of the NCAA. The women’s team set five school records during the season and had 13 athletes earn All-American honors at the national championships. Three of those All-Americans were individual event national champions, as Mechaela Hyacinth (100 meters), Jaylah Walker (400 hurdles), and Chin Agina (high jump) claimed the top spot on the podium.

While the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cougars saw eight athletes earn all-American honors, with six women and two men qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Between the men’s and women’s indoor teams, Hoyt saw 20 athletes named to the all-regional squads. The teams excelled in the classroom as well, with 50 athletes earning PacWest academic honors and pole vaulter Sara Wagenveld being named the West Region Scholar Athlete of the Year by the D2CCA.

During the 2019 season, Azusa Pacific swept the PacWest championships at home, winning both the men’s and women’s outdoor titles for the fourth consecutive season. The team also saw 32 members earn PacWest all-Academic honors. The women’s team saw four athletes earn all-American status at the national championships.

In Hoyt’s first year in charge at Azusa Pacific, the Cougars won both the men’s and women’s titles at the PacWest conference championships for the third year in a row. Five athletes earned all-American honors at the NCAA indoor championships as the women’s team earned a top-10 finish. With three all-American performances at the outdoor championships, the women’s team again finished in the top 20. In the classroom, 22 women and 15 men earned places on the PacWest all-Academic honor roll.

Prior to Azusa Pacific, Hoyt coached the jumps and multi-events at UCLA, and his previous coaching experience includes seven years at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and over a decade of coaching at his alma mater Seattle Pacific with the last six (2000-05) as head coach, giving him over 20 total years of coaching experience across two divisions of NCAA competition (Division I & II).

Hoyt inherits a program which claimed 30 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national titles and produced 14 Olympians before Azusa Pacific's transition to NCAA Division II membership. In the first three years of the program's NCAA era, the Cougars have produced eight individual national champions and 26 All-Americans in track and field and cross country, along with four top-10 team finishes at NCAA national championship meets.

"I've known about Azusa Pacific for a long time and have long considered it a home away from home," Hoyt said. "Seeing what previous coaches have done here showed me an experience I wanted to have. It's exciting to see a Christian university which values track and field at such a high level, and it's clear to me that Azusa Pacific is serious about the ministry of a great track and field and cross country program. While I want to develop Olympians from this team, I also want to know that we're impacting lives, which is even more important."

In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Hoyt has served as the World University Games head coach for Team USA in 2015. He is the coach of two-time Olympian Sharon Day-Monroe, who competed at Cal Poly-SLO and went on to win six U.S. national championships (three heptathlon, three pentathlon). Day-Monroe set the American indoor record in the pentathlon (4,805 points) in 2014, claiming her third consecutive U.S. championship in the event.

Hoyt was an All-American decathlete at Seattle Pacific, and he competed in the decathlon at the 1992 U.S. Olympic trials. In 1990, he broke the American record for the decathlon high jump, clearing 2.20 meters (7-feet, 2.75-inches), and he still owns Seattle Pacific's school record in the high jump. While coaching at Seattle Pacific, Hoyt led the Falcons to five Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's titles (three indoor, two outdoor) and was a three-time GNAC Coach of the Year.

In their words:

Gary Pine (Azusa Pacific Athletic Director)

"Jack has a breadth of knowledge in a wide range of disciplines, and throughout his experience he has built connections throughout the track and field community. It became clear to me that Jack was the right person to lead Azusa Pacific track and field, and his vision and philosophy show how well he will fit this university. Jack will be a great leader for our program and an outstanding representative of the university, and he will keep Azusa Pacific at the forefront of collegiate track and field."

Bryan Clay (2002 Azusa Pacific graduate & 2008 Olympic decathlon gold medalist)

"With Kevin Reid and Mike Barnett leaving, that left a huge gap, not just in terms of leadership of the track and field team but within the fabric of Azusa Pacific. It's a surprise for a lot of people, and I was among those who were concerned with how well somebody could fill that gap. If there's somebody I feel comfortable with taking the reins, it would be a person like Jack. I've had the opportunity to see him work, and I've never met anyone with something bad to say about Jack. He has the character, values, and morals to guide students on a day-to-day basis, and that means more than national championships at Azusa Pacific. He has the skills to transform athletes into what they're capable of becoming, but he can also guide them on a spiritual, faith-based level, too. That's exciting for me, and I'm looking forward to being a part of Azusa Pacific track and field on the new path that's being forged. I expect amazing things from him, and I believe he will be able to take Azusa Pacific track and field to new heights and new levels while maintaining and adding to the legacy that Kevin and Mike are leaving behind."

Jack Nance (1988 Azusa Pacific graduate & seven-time NAIA All-American)

"Knowing Jack Hoyt for the last 30-plus years as a competitor, coach, and friend, I am excited about what he brings to Azusa Pacific track and field. He has seen firsthand the tradition of athletic and academic excellence while being a Christ-centered program, and he has an incredible resume which includes successful coaching at the international and NCAA Division I levels of competition. The most important thing for me is his heart for the athletes and his devotion to helping them become a better person before they leave his program. He has a heart for Christ and helping athletes to know Christ, and Azusa Pacific is blessed to have him take over a program built by Terry Franson, Kevin Reid, and Mike Barnett."

Blackett previously coached at her alma mater Rice, where she was one of the most successful women's track and field athletes in program history. She coached at Rice for 10 years, serving as a volunteer assistant her first five years.In 2021, Blackett was named the national women’s assistant coach of the year by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as the Cougars won the 2021 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field national championship, the school’s first NCAA national team title in any sport. She coached two individual national champions in Mechaela Hyacinth (100m) and Jaylah Walker (400m hurdles).

During the 2020 indoor season, Blackett was the West Region Assistant Coach of the Year qualified a total of five student-athletes for the 2020 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. Two Cougars qualified in individual events, Mechaela Hyacinth and Jaylah Walker. Hyacinth was an automatic qualifier in the 60 meters, as she ran a time of 7.39 in early December that was the second-fastest time ran in Division II this season. Walker qualified for Nationals in the 400 meters, after running a provisional time of 54.98 that was fast enough to make the field of competitors.

In addition to the individual events, Blackett also coached the 4x400 relay team that qualified for Nationals competition. The relay team of Walker, Kiayra Holmes, Ki'Ana Thomas, and Meagan Warwick ran a provisional time of 3:46.62 to make the field.

Blackett was a two-time Olympian, competing for Barbados in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games during an 11-year professional career. She represented Barbados in six IAAF World Championships between 1997 and 2007, competing individually in the 400m hurdles as well as the 4x400 relay, and she qualified for the final four times in the 400m hurdles with a career-best fourth-place finish in 1999. She competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, qualifying for the semifinal of the 400m hurdles, and she competed in the 400m hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Blackett has a personal best of 53.36 in the 400m hurdles, which is also a national record for Barbados. She also set the Barbados 100m hurdles record of 13.39 in 2003.

In 2008, Blackett retired from international competition but still made her third Olympic appearance for Barbados by serving her native country as its head track and field coach at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

As a collegiate coach for Rice in 2007, Blackett was responsible for the development of freshman Shakera Reece, who set a school-record in the 100 meters (11.34), and she also coached Chandra Ewing to a Conference USA title in the 400m hurdles, an event Blackett dominated in her competitive career at Rice from 1994-97.

During that time, Reece set Rice records in both the 100m and 400m hurdles. She joined Melissa Straker, TaNisha Mills and Margaret Fox in the 4x400m relay to win the first NCAA indoor relay title for the Owls in 1997, setting a school record of 3:34.44.

As a collegiate athlete, Blackett was a six-time All-American for Rice, including back-to-back All-American performances in the 400m hurdles in 1996 and 1997. She qualified for the NCAA championships all four years of her collegiate career. She still holds the school record in the 400m outdoor hurdles, as well as the indoor hurdle mark for the 55m.

Blackett was inducted into the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame individually in 2005 and again in 2007 as a member of the 1997 NCAA champion 4x400 relay.

Blackett graduated from Rice in 1997 and went on to earn a master's degree in hotel management from the University of Houston.