Jon McCants joined the University of Charleston in August 2017, and serves as the assistant coach for the men’s and women’s track and cross-country programs. Specializing in the sprints, McCants graduated from Virginia Tech in May of 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Consumer Studies. He received his master’s degree in strategic leadership from the University of Charleston’s School of Leadership. During the 2018 season, McCants guided nine different athletes in beating UC school track records, and helped to lead them to their first ever Mountain East Conference Championship title since the program began in 2015. Additionally, he coached four individual conference champions that year.
The 2019 indoor season followed the success of the outdoor season as McCants guided his athletes to four indoor school records. The outdoor season resulted in even more success as he guided his athletes to eight outdoor school records, ten individual conference championships, and three NCAA provisional qualifying marks. To cap it all off, the men’s track and field team successfully defended their title at the outdoor championships.
Although the 2020 season was cut short due to Covid-19, there was no shortage of phenomenal performances. During the indoor season, McCants’ sprint group saw six school records fall, four NCAA provisional qualifying marks, five individual conference champions, and saw Aaron Banks become the first men’s sprinter to qualify for the NCAA Division 2 Track and Field Championships. That success helped the men’s team win the inaugural MEC Indoor Track and Field Championship.
The 2021 outdoor season brought more success as the sprint and hurdle group set 2 new school records, 3 Individual MEC Championships, 2 MEC Championship meet records, 2 individual All-Atlantic Region honors and 1 relay team to All-Atlantic Region honors. Once again, the men’s team was successful in defending their outdoor title at the MEC Championship meet. As an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech, McCants was a member of the men’s track and field team, where he holds two school records in the 200-meter dash, and the 4x100 meter relay. McCants led the team to two indoor track and field ACC Championships in 2011 and 2013, and to an outdoor ACC Championship in 2012. McCants was honored as Second Team All-American in 2012, and was a member of the First Team All-ACC in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. McCants competed post-collegiately, qualifying for the USA Track and Field Championships in 2014, competing in the 200-meter dash. After finishing his track career, McCants started as a volunteer assistant coach at Virginia Tech, helping to lead the team to an indoor conference championship in 2017, and two outdoor conference championships in 2016 and 2017. McCants helped to push the athletes to beat eight school records, as well as qualifying nine athletes in the NCAA East Regional Championships.
