Bio

Ian Whatley works with the men’s and women’s Track & Field teams as an Assistant Coach specializing in the racewalk event group. Whatley began as a volunteer coach in 2019.

Whatley is a bioengineer who holds USATF coaching certifications at L1, L2 (Endurance) and L2 (Youth). From 1992 to 2003, he served at camps in San Diego and Colorado Springs as the US Olympic Training Center coach. World Athletics currently consult him on the biomechanics of racewalking as they revise the event rules for international competition ready for the Paris Olympic games. Ian authored the USATF racewalk coaching material used for the L1 courses from 2000 to the present, and the Run-Jump-Throw coaching program racewalk section. His online coaching videos are used globally as introductory level racewalk coaching material. USATF presented him the Mike Riban lifetime services to T&F award in 2017.

At Loughborough University (England) Whatley's best finish was third in the British Universities championships (3,000M racewalk) and he captained the English Universities Cross-country team (UAU). He has competed in eight US Olympic Track and Field trials, finishing fifth at 50Km in 1996. From 1993 to 2016 Whatley competed for the US track and Field team at every racewalking distance from 3,000M indoors to 50Km on roads, winning a team silver medal at the Pan-American Cup in Manaus, Brazil in 1996 at 50Km.

Racewalking was added to the AAC conference in 2018 (Outdoor at 5,000M) and 2019 (Indoor at 3,000M). A Koala athlete has won every single individual woman’s racewalk in conference history and the squad took all eight scoring places in a single race (Indoor 3000m in 2023). The racewalk squad has been consistently ranked in the top two nationally by NAIA. Whatley has also coached Columbia College athletes to qualifing times for NAIA Nationals twenty-five times, with the women taking places 1-2-4-5 at indoor nationals in 2023. His wife Susan Heiser is a USATF National team coach, and they are both National level certified officials.