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Jeremy Croy
Head Coach
Coach Croy's track and field team stayed at the top in 2017, winning back-to-back men's NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships. Tiffin had three individual champions in 2017, and for the first time in program history the men's team won the GLIAC Indoor Championship. During the 2017 outdoor season, the men's team finished 2nd in the GLIAC, scoring 162 team points, and the women's team finished 4th with 74 team points. At the Outdoor NCAA Championships, Tiffin qualified 15 athletes with the men's team finishing 3rd overall.
Coach Croy was named USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year and GLIAC Coach of the Year for the 2017 indoor season. In 2016, Coach Croy was named GLIAC Coach of the Year and National Coach of the year as his 2016 men's indoor track and field team won Tiffin's first NCAA Division II National Championship.
Head Track and Field/Cross Country Coach Jeremy Croy enters his 17th season at Tiffin University. Since his arrival, Coach Croy has led the Dragons to 15 consecutive winning seasons. Through 2015 the men have posted a 683-144 record (.825) and the women 554-275 (.668) during that same time. The Dragons also have had over 150 All-Americans (Academic and Athletic) and shattered every school record on the books.
Both track and field squads also gained their highest ever conference placing in Coach Croy's first season and continued that success during their last season in the NAIA with the men's squad winning their fourth consecutive conference championship. Coach Croy was also recognized as the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 AMC Coach of the Year for winning the AMC Championship and finishing the season with a record of 51-2 in 2007.
Both teams continue to be ranked in the NCAA II top 20 for the past five years. These rankings are highlighted by the men's team finishing 5th in the nation in both 2014 and 2015. The women have had rankings as high as 14th and 13th during this same stretch.
Not only stellar in the competition realm, the track and cross country squads have great success in the the classroom. The 2014 women's cross country squad had a team GPA of 3.48 (women's track 3.21) while men's cross country came in just behind with a 3.04 team GPA. After graduation over 20+ Dragons Alum have continued their careers in collegiate athletic coaching, representing universities all over the country within NCAA I, II, and III.
Croy was also named GLIAC Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year in 2011 and followed up that season with NCAA II Regional Coach of the Year honors as well. He replicated the feat in 2014 with the GLIAC and NCAA Regional Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year award.
Croy is an Ohio Northern University graduate with a degree in Sports Management. He also was a four-year letter winner in track and cross-country, earning MVP honors for the cross-country squad. Croy obtained his Master's degree in Sports Management from Springfield College (MA). Croy, his wife (Meladie), daughter (Corinne) and son (William) reside in Tiffin.
Ray Robinson
Assistant Coach
Ray Robinson enters his seventh year with the track and field team as the throws coach and as the strength and conditioning coordinator.
Robinson has coached twelve All-Americans in the throwing events. Thirty-five Dragon throwers have earned a berth in the NCAA championship meet under his tutelage. All twelve Tiffin throwing records have been broken during his tenure. Additionally, sixty-three places have been earned by his athletes on the TU top-ten performance list in the throwing events.
Robinson has worked extensively with John Godina, four-time world champion, Olympic medalist, and holder of the NCAA championship shot put record. Godina conducts both a coaching clinic and a throwers camp annually on the TU campus. Robinson also had the privilege of coaching 2016 Division II National Runner-Up Coy Blair at the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials in the shot put. Robinson also coached Adriane Blewitt, the Division II national shot put recorder holder, at the 2012 Olympic Trials. Both Godina and Blewitt have had a profound impact on Coach Robinson’s throwing philosophy.
Robinson previously held the TU school record in the discus throw and is also on the top-ten performance list in the hammer throw and weight throw. Placing three years in the discus at the conference meet helped Robinson earn All-GLIAC student/athlete designation each of those years. He was also selected to the GLIAC All-Academic team four times. He earned Academic All-American honors twice.
Robinson is a Tiffin University graduate with a degree in Human Resources. He obtained his Masters of Business Administration also from Tiffin University with a concentration in Human Resources. Ray is married to Kristen, a former All-American shot putter for the Dragons. Ray, his wife, and daughter (McKenzie Jo) reside in Tiffin.
Steve Livoti
Assistant Coach
Steve Livoti is in his ninth season as an assistant coach for track and field at Tiffin University. He works primarily with hurdlers and sprinters. While coaching at TU, he has helped many athletes reach the national championships. He has worked directly with 61 national qualifier positions and indirectly with 23 national qualifier positions. He has coached 40 All-Americans including the NCAA Division II Indoor National Champion in the 60 meter and 200 meter dash. All men's and women's indoor and outdoor hurdles records, with the exception of the men's 400 meter hurdles, have been broken during his tenure at TU. While at Tiffin University, the men's indoor track and field team won the 2016 and 2017 NCAA Division II National Championship, the outdoor team saw success as well, finishing 2nd overall at the 2016 and 3rd in the 2017 Outdoor Division II National Championship.
Livoti is a native of Tiffin who has taught World Studies at Lakota Schools for 30 years. He has coached track for 42 years and was head boy’s and girl’s track coach for 24 of those years.
Livoti accumulated a record of 2028 wins and 908 losses. He has had athletes who have represented Lakota High School in the state championship for 27 of the 33 years that he coached there. In 1987, the Lakota girls track team won the State Championship.
Livoti taught education classes at Heidelberg from 2006 to 2009. He received the Bob Cline Longevity Award for 30 plus years of coaching and was nominated in 2010 for the Ohio Track and Field Hall of Fame Fred Daffler Longevity Award. Steve is married to Kathy and they have two children, Kara and Tony.
Kayla Ellks
Assistant Coach
Tiffin University Graduate and Track & Field Alumni Kayla Ellks will be entering her fourth season as assistant coach working with horizontal jumps.
Ellks, who was a TU standout, is in charge of horizontal jumps (long jump & triple jump). While coaching at Tiffin, Ellks has been instrumental to the development of long jumper Marquise Corbett, 1x National Champion, 2x National Runner up, and 4x All-American. Marquise broke the school record more than 6 times while taking his best of 7.34m (24ft 1.5in) to 7.97 (26ft 1in) and his triple jump from 13.85m (45ft 5in) to 14.61m (47ft 11in). Ellks has coached 1 All-American and has 4 All-American honors. In the 2017 season, her jumpers had 8 top 3 performances at the GLIAC Conference Championships and 11 total All-GLIAC honors. Over her past 3 seasons, Ellks has totaled 22 top 8 performances on the men’s and women’s side with an impressive 1,2,3 sweep in the men’s long jump at 2017 Outdoor GLIAC Championships with jumps all over 7.00 meters.
As an athlete, Kayla held the Triple jump record, was on a record holding 4x100 relay, and is the current record holder in the Long jump at Tiffin University. She is also on the top-ten performance list in multiple events and was team captain of the jumpers in 2012-2013. Ellks was the 2013 Indoor GLIAC Champion in the Triple Jump with previous top 3 finishes in 2010 and 2012. She was also the 2013 Indoor GLIAC Runner-Up in the Long Jump, had top three finishes in 2011 and 2012, and hit NCAA provisional marks in both long and triple jump.
Ellks spent the year of 2013-14 at Tiffin University as a student assistant and assisted in the breaking of two school records in the triple jump, one of those records being her own. Ellks graduated with 2 Bachelor degrees in Criminal Justice from Tiffin University.
Keith Reiter
Assistant Coach
Keith Reiter enters into his third year with Tiffin University. He serves as the Vertical Jumps Coach- Pole Vault & High Jump.
In Reiter's first year with Tiffin, he had multiple athletes qualify for the NCAA National Championships including one All-American finish in the men's pole vault contributing to the teams first NCAA National Championship indoor title and Runner-Up outdoor finish. Also, school records were broken in the men and women's indoor pole vault along with multiple additions to the Top-10 Performance Lists in both High Jump and Pole Vault.
Reiter was named NCAA DIII Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015 and has previously coached at Mount Union, Cincinnati, and McNeese State University.
At Mount Union Reiter was in charge of the high jump, long jump, triple jump, and the multi-event groups. He coached multiple national championship qualifiers including two All-Americans and a 3rd place team finish at the DIII National Championships. Reiter also led athletes to OAC Conference titles in the high jump, triple jump, and helped the team garner Conference titles in indoor and outdoor for both men and women.
At the University of Cincinnati, Reiter assisted with the jumps and distance event groups. Prior to Cincinnati, he spent three years as an assistant coach at McNeese State University in Louisiana where he worked with multi-event athletes, jumps, and pole vault. During his time at McNeese State, Reiter had athletes break school records in women's pole vault, long jump, heptathlon, and pentathlon along with Southland Conference titles in the long jump and heptathlon.
As a student-athlete at Tiffin, Reiter competed on the track and field team and holds the outdoor school record in the pole vault. During his time as a Dragon, Reiter was a NAIA and NCAA National Championship competitor.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Tiffin and a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology from McNeese State University.
Brendon Moody
Assistant Coach
Brendon Moody enters his second year as assistant track coach at Tiffin University.
In the past year, Moody has taken the reigns of the Middle Distance and Distance program. Under his guidance, the program saw four school records broken: Indoor 3,000 meter, 5,000 meter, Outdoor 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter. National qualifying marks hit at 3,000, 5,000, 10,000 and the Distance Medley Relay. Along with those accomplishments, the program had 5 top three finishes in the GLIAC as well as 4 All-American Honors (3-National Runners-Up) as well as guiding James Ngandu to an NCAA Midwest Region Track Athlete of the year!
Prior to Tiffin University, Moody spent ten years at Van Wert High School and Fort Recovery High School coaching cross country and track & field. During his tenure as head cross country coach, he mentored 45 student athletes to earn all Western Buckeye League Honors, 29 student athletes to earn All District Honors, 20 individual State qualifiers and six State Qualifying Teams. On the track, Moody’s distance athletes helped rewrite eight school records en route to countless district, regional, and state qualifiers, highlighted by a 2012 Boys Division II State Champion at 800 meters and multiple All-Ohio performances.
An Alumni of Heidelberg University, Coach Moody graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Education. As an athlete, Moody was a two time National Qualifier in the 3000 meter Steeplechase, and multiple all OAC selection in both cross country and track & field. After graduation, Moody earned his Master’s Degree from Heidelberg University while working as a graduate assistant with the cross country and track and field programs. Coach Moody is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Program at the University of Findlay.
Brendon and his wife Kylee, live in Van Wert, OH, with their three children, Myles, Brynleigh, and Colton.
Nikki Hintze
Assistant Coach
Nikki Hintze enters her second season as assistant track coach at Tiffin University.
Nikki is a 2007 Heidelberg College graduate with a degree in Sports Management where she captained the cross country and track and field squads. Coach Hintze won OAC titles in Indoor and Outdoor track and was also an NCAA Championships Qualifier while graduating with 5 school records. Nikki obtained her Master's degree in Business Leadership from Tiffin University in 2011. After graduating from Heidelberg, she began working at Tiffin University and is currently the Executive Director for Online & Graduate Enrollment Management.
Her coaching experience includes 9 years at Tiffin Columbian High School as the head cross country coach. While coaching at Tiffin she qualified her squad to the Regional Finals (5 of 9 years) and the State Finals in one season as well. Nikki, her husband Kyle, daughters Emma and Grace, and son Parker reside in Tiffin.
Ralph Robinson
Assistant Coach
Ralph Robinson begins his second year year as an assistant throws coach for the Dragons. He is a 2015 Tiffin University graduate with a degree in marketing and is the youngest brother of veteran Dragons throws coach Ray Robinson.
Ralph was a five-time provisional national qualifier (3 weight throw, 2 hammer throw), and earned Academic All-American honors in each of those seasons. His best GLIAC finish was fifth place in the hammer at the 2014 meet. He held the school record in the hammer throw and was second all-time in the weight throw at the end of his collegiate career. Ralph is currently 2nd, 3rd, and 10th all-time in the hammer, weight, and discus respectively.
Coach Robinson and his wife Katie (Gerhardt), also a TU alum and a two-time All-American thrower, reside in Tiffin with their daughter Vivian Rose.
Dennis Martin
Assistant Coach
Dennis Martin enters his first season with the Tiffin University track and field program. Martin will work primarily with the sprinters.
Martin previously served in the same capacity at Saginaw Valley State University. Prior to coaching with the Cardinals, he served at the University of North Florida, where he was an assistant coach working with sprints and hurdles as well.
A three-time All-American sprinter at the University of Florida, Martin was a member of the Gators' 4x100m relay Outdoor National Champion team in 2009. He earned his All-American honors in the 2009 relay along with the Indoor 60m hurdles in 2008 & 2009. Martin was also a USA Junior National Champion for the 110m hurdles in 2006.
Martin was also a prep state champion and a high school national record holder in the shuttle hurdle relay.
A native of Anderson, S.C., Martin graduated from Florida with an anthropology degree in 2010 and is also USATF Level 1 certified.
Coy Blair
Graduate Assistant Coach