Ben Yocum was named an assistant track & field coach at Coastal Carolina University in the summer of 2017 and added cross country coaching duties in August 2020.
On the track & field side, Yocum oversees the pole vault and multi-events for both the Chanticleer men's and women's teams.
Over his time at Coastal, Yocum has helped several Chants set new school records and benchmarks.
In 2018, Nick Seabright set the school record in the decathlon and finished in third-place overall at the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
The following season, Connor Langdon set the CCU school record in the indoor heptathlon event and went on to qualify for the 2019 NCAA Southeast Regional Preliminaries in the high jump. His marks still currently rank third all-time for both the decathlon and the high jump, while he also ranks in the top-10 of the school’s performance list in the pole vault.
CCU’s Zahir Scott posted a top-10 finish in the decathlon at the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, while fellow Chant Isaac Murdock recorded the eighth-best result in school history in the decathlon at the 2021 Sun Belt Championships to place in the top-10 in the program and score for the Chants in the conference championship meet.
Most recently on the women’s side, Nikki Boon scored at the conference championship meet and recorded a top-10 performance in the indoor pentathlon, finishing second overall with the second-best score in CCU history at the 2021 SBC Indoor Track & Field Championships. Anais Williams earned five personal-best marks during the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships while competing in the heptathlon, totaling 3818 points for the 10th-best total in school history.
Erica Evans set school records in both the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon events. She also scored points for the Chants in both the indoor and outdoor Sun Belt Championships, both in multi-events as well as in the 4x400 relays in her four years at Coastal.
Under Yocum’s guidance, former Chant Hesmari Coetzee won the 400-meter hurdles at the 2017 Sun Belt Championship and qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary with her time of 59.25 at the Gamecock Invitational, while teammate Elizabeth Allard broke into the top-10 of Coastal’s all-time performance list in the pole vault.
Before coming to Coastal, Yocum spent seven years at the College of Charleston working primarily with throwers, hurdlers, and multi-event groups.
In 2016, Yocum's student-athletes were responsible for 18 of the Cougars' 45 points at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships. Three student-athletes in the multi-events scored a combined 11 points, while three javelin throwers were responsible for putting up seven points.
Prior to that, Yocum helped guide Tiffany Sisk to back-to-back CAA titles in the shot put, giving the College of Charleston two of its first three conference titles after moving up from the Southern Conference.
Yocum also coached Sisk -- the school record holder -- to a Southern Conference title in the shot put during the 2012 outdoor season, as well as Christine Klinar, who finished second in the SoCon in the javelin. Sisk would go on to qualify for the 2015 NCAA Preliminaries.
Yocum spent 2009-10 working with the University of South Carolina track & field team. He assisted the staff with all administrative duties including the preparation for and execution of training sessions, equipment for practice and competition ordering, inventory, issues, and storage. He also managed home meets for track & field as well as cross country events.
From 2006-08, Yocum was an assistant coach at Benedict College, working primarily with the pole vault and throws groups. He also designed and implemented the strength training program for the track & field student-athletes. The Charlotte, N.C. native coached two conference champions and three all-conference athletes.
Yocum was a member of the Appalachian State track & field team as a freshman in 2000, where he was an All-SoCon member in the decathlon. He transferred to South Carolina and competed for three seasons, specializing in the decathlon and pentathlon. While at USC, he was a three-time Southeastern Conference (SEC) Scholar-Athlete, three-time letterwinner, and an Iron Gamecock award winner. He earned his bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology from USC in 2003.
Yocum has earned a USATF Level 1 certification as well as a Level II in jumps. He is also a USTFCCCA certified throws coach.
