Atanas Atanassov - Track & Field Coach - University of Washington Athletics

Atanas Atanassov

Title:
Volunteer Assistant, Multis

Atanas Atanassov enters into his fifth year as a volunteer assistant on the Husky coaching staff. He works with Assistant Coach Pat Licari coaching the UW multi-event athletes, planning daily workouts, leading practice and coaching in competitions.

Over his first two years, Atanassov worked with All-American Husky record-setter Jeremy Taiwo, helping Taiwo reach new heights in 2013. Taiwo was the NCAA decathlon runner-up with 8,239 points, a total that surpassed the World Championships 'A' Standard. With a third-place finish at the USA Outdoor Championships, Taiwo qualified for the 2013 World Championships in the decathlon. He also broke the UW heptathlon record indoors, scoring 6,156 points, and raised the heptathlon high jump World Record to 7-4 1/2. Taiwo would go on to make the 2015 World Championship squad and then the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, where he placed 11th in the decathlon in the Rio Games.

In 2016 and 2017, Atanassov helped three Dawgs reach new peaks in the multis and score at the Pac-12 Multi-Events. Josh Gordon took sixth in the 2016 Pac-12 decathlon while Cole Jensen was eighth in 2016 and seventh in 2017, with both athletes breaking the 7,000 point mark. C.J. Smith went to No. 4 in school history in the heptathlon and finished seventh at the 2016 Pac-12 meet in her senior season. Gordon also reached NCAA Prelims in the long jump while Jensen was fourth in the MPSF heptathlon indoors.

Also steadily improving under Atanassov's coaching was 2015 grad Nick Pfeiffer, who upped his decathlon PR each year to a PR of 6,943 points in his final decathlon at the Pac-12 meet, where he finished ninth. Just a redshirt freshman, Carson Murray competed in the multis but had special success in the high jump, clearing 7-1 1/2 during the Pac-12 decathlon and advancing to NCAA West Preliminaries in the high jump.

A native of Bulgaria, Atanassov has a Masters in Physical Education, and more than twenty years of coaching experience, dating back to club coaching in his home country where his athletes won a dozen Bulgarian national titles. After moving to the Seattle area, he has served as an assistant coach with Highline Community College, coaching the NWAACC decathlon champion, and the pole vault coach for the Renton School District. He is USATF Level 1 coaching certified.