The 2026-27 season will mark Keith Vance's eighth season as a member of the Mountain Lion coaching staff and his fifth season serving in a full-time role as the assistant coach in charge of the throwing events.
In 2025-26, Vance's throwers continued their strong performances as he coached his student-athletes to 11 All-RMAC First Team accolades and 10 All-RMAC Second Team accolades across the indoor and outdoor seasons. He also mentored three individual RMAC champions, with Savannah Jorgens (indoor weight throw), Michael Roberts (outdoor hammer throw), and Ayianna Johnson (outdoor discus throw) each claiming conference titles. At the national level, Vance coached his student-athletes to three USTFCCCA Second Team All-America honors, with Roberts earning the distinction in the indoor weight throw and outdoor hammer throw and Jorgens earning the honor in the indoor weight throw.
Since joining the UCCS coaching staff prior to the 2019-20 season, Vance has established the Mountain Lion throwing program as one of the strongest in the RMAC. His student-athletes have combined for 40 All-RMAC First Team honors and 10 individual RMAC championships, while numerous throwers have advanced to the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor Championships and earned All-America recognition. The Mountain Lion throwers have also rewritten the UCCS record book under Vance's guidance, breaking 11 of the 12 possible men's and women's indoor and outdoor throwing event school records.
Prior to UCCS, Coach Vance was the throws coach at the United States Air Force Academy. Vance coached athletes who broke five of the men’s six Air Force throwing records (Grant Hamilton: indoor shot put, outdoor shot put, discus throw; Malachi Sparling: weight throw; Taylor Hulslander: javelin throw) and made 25 improvements to the program’s all-time standings in those events for the men’s and women’s program.
Under his watch, Hamilton claimed three Mountain West titles as a senior, including the program’s first-ever conference titles in the discus and outdoor shot put, and Sparling led the Falcons’ to a 1-2-3 finish on the weight throw podium at the 2017 MW Indoor Championships. They also accounted for 25 medals at the conference championships and 59 scoring finishes, including half of the top-eight places in the 2016 javelin throw and the 2017 weight throw. His throwers, who have helped Air Force to five conference team titles, have combined for 13 appearances at the opening round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships
He joined the Falcons’ program after spending four years at Boise State, where he guided the Broncos’ throwers to three All-American awards, 10 conference titles and two school records. In addition, 12 of his athletes combined for 20 appearances in the first-round of the NCAA Championships.
Under his guidance, four Boise State throwers advanced to the NCAA National Championships, including Matt Post (2013 participant in the hammer throw), Mele Vaisima (2012 first-team All-American in the weight throw), Alex Nelson (2011 second-team All-American in the hammer) and Pontus Thomee (2010 NCAA runner-up and first-team All-American in the javelin).
Vance’s athletes accounted for 10 Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference titles, including a span of three straight championships in the weight throw by Trevor Kraychir. In addition, Thomee and Vaisima claimed two titles apiece in the javelin and weight throw, respectively, while Vaisima received the women’s Outstanding Performer award at the 2012 MW Indoor Championships. During his four-year tenure, Boise State throwers accounted for nine all-MW (top-three) awards, 19 all-WAC First-Team and 10 all-WAC Second-Team honors.
His athletes also impacted the Boise State record books, with Vaisima (weight throw) and Alyssa Osai (discus throw) setting school records in their respective events. Vance also helped the Broncos’ multi-event athletes in the throwing events, accounting for a part of Kurt Felix’s records in the heptathlon and decathlon, as well as Alexi Morton’s school record in the pentathlon.
Prior to his time in Boise, Vance spent four years as the throws coach at Tiffin University in Ohio. As the event coach for the Dragons’ throwing team, his athletes accounted for seven conference outdoor championship titles and 35 all-conference (top-three) selections, as well as two American Mideast Conference Athlete of the Year recipients, five NCAA Academic All-Americans, 16 NAIA National Qualifiers and six NCAA National Qualifiers. In addition, his athletes posted 84 marks on Tiffin’s all-time performance list.
Vance earned his undergraduate degree in sociology from The College of Wooster (Ohio) in 2004, while competing on the track and field team. Vance, who holds USATF Level 2 certification in the throwing events, went on to obtain his master’s degree in business administration from Tiffin University. Vance and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons – Conner and Parker.
