GALESBURG, Illinois - The Knox College track and field program will be led by a man who has achieved success in the sport on and off the field.

Knox athletic director Chad Eisele announced that Randy Overby is the new men's and women's head track and field coach.  Overby takes over for Jason Haynes, who coached the Prairie Fire for three years.

Overby was most recently an assistant track and field and assistant cross country coach since 2012 at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.  In addition, he served as the director and head track and field coach at Harvest Preparatory School in Canal Winchester, Ohio since 2011.

"I have developed my coaching to revolve around a core value system of character, commitment, and relationships," Overby said. "These core values have allowed me to enjoy every career highlight which have included 44 all-conference members and 15 school records at Capital University in my first two years."

Overby coached at the NCAA Division I level as an assistant on the staff at The Ohio State University between 1999 and 2002.  His successes there included 16 new school records, and producing eight Division I East regional qualifiers and eight conference champions. In addition, he's coached 20 NCAA All-Americans, six individual national champions, and 15 national qualifiers.

"(Randy's) experience at all levels of track and field as a coach and competitor give him a wealth of knowledge to help build a strong track program," Eisele said.

Overby was an all-conference track performer in college.  He was also a U.S. Indoor Championships qualifier, qualified for the U.S. Outdoor Championships and the U.S. Olympic trials, and ran on Team USA sponsored relays.

Overby expects to begin his new duties at Knox this week.