• 2009 Southeast Region Men's Outdoor Track and Field Head Coach of the Year
• 2009 ACC Men's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year
• 2008 Southeast Region Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year
• 2008 ACC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year

Jason Vigilante, entering his second year as the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country for the Cavaliers, has already made great strides in improving Virginia’s track and field and cross country programs.

Vigilante quickly made his mark during the cross country season – guiding the men’s team to its second-consecutive ACC Championship and the women’s program to its first-ever Southeast Region title. Vigilante saw Ryan Foster earn the men’s program its first-ever individual ACC Champion and had Emil Heineking become the first two-time cross country All-American at Virginia.

For his accomplishments, Vigilante was named the ACC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and was also voted the Southeast Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.

In transitioning to the track, Vigilante led Andrew Jesien, Meikle Paschal, Lance Roller and Sintayehu Taye to All-America honors, and a school record, in the distance medley relay indoors. He then led Virginia’s men to its best-ever finish of third place at the ACC Indoor Championships and the program’s first-ever ACC Outdoor Title – tying three-time national champion Florida State.

Vigilante earned ACC Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honors and saw Morgane Gay become the first Cavalier woman to earn ACC Rookie of the Year accolades.

Following the conference championships, Vigilante coached a school-record 29 athletes to the NCAA East Region Championships, where the men’s team finished in a program-best sixth place. Vigilante had 10 athletes earn all-region honors and advanced nine to the NCAA Championships, where six Cavaliers earned All-America honors.

Under Vigilante’s guidance, both Gay (1500m) and Sean Keveren (5000m) finished runner-up at the USA Junior National Championships and qualified for the Pan Am Junior Championships.

Prior to coming to Virginia, Vigilante was a member of Texas’ 1999 staff as a volunteer coach for women’s cross country. In 2000, he became an assistant coach for the men’s track and field and men’s cross country programs. In August of 2005, he was promoted to the position as Texas’ head men’s cross country coach.

Vigilante has built a strong reputation for his work with Texas’ middle distance and distance runners, while at the same time establishing the Longhorns’ men’s cross country program as one of the best in the nation.

At Texas, Vigilante helped produce six NCAA individual champions, 37 All-Americans, 17 Big 12 Conference champions, three Big 12 Conference relay champions, six Penn Relays Championship of America champions and one Olympian. The men’s cross country teams made seven appearances at the NCAA Championships during his tenure.

His squads have also been recognized for their success in the classroom, garnering numerous Academic All-America honors, while individual student-athletes have been tabbed Academic All-Americans and Academic All-Big 12 selections.

Vigilante was named the 2008 National Assistant Indoor Coach of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) after helping the Longhorns to a third-place team finish at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Vigilante mentored the middle and long distance groups at Texas, with his event entrants contributing 28 of 34 points in UT’s program-best finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

He was named the 2005 National Assistant Outdoor Coach of the Year and Midwest Regional Coach of the Year for distance by the USTFCCCA. That year Texas’ men’s program was one of only four teams (men’s or women’s) to finish in the top-12 nationally in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field.

During his eight years working with the Texas men’s cross country team, the Longhorns qualified for the NCAA Championships seven times, while finishing in the top-25 on six occasions. During that period five Longhorn runners earned All-America honors.

Over the last four years, Vigilante has been instrumental in developing one of the nation’s top distance performers in Leonel Manzano, who competed in the 1,500 meters at the 2008 Olympics.

Manzano became the first student-athlete in Big 12 history to win the mile run in four consecutive seasons. At the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships, he became the first Longhorn in program history to win two NCAA titles at the same meet, running the anchor leg of the distance medley relay and defending his title in the mile run. Manzano was the 2008 National Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

In 2008, Vigilante mentored the Longhorns’ distance medley relay to a world-record setting performance at the Tyson Invitational (Feb. 16), saw his distance runners turn in sub four-minute mile performances and mentored an automatic qualifier in the 800 meters to the national meet. Manzano and Jake Morse finished first and second, respectively, at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile, while Manzano won the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Jacob Hernandez took first in the 800 meters at the outdoor championships and at the 2008 Olympic Trials, Morse finished fourth in the steeplechase, while Manzano took runner-up honors in the 1,500 meters to earn a spot on Team USA.

A native of Morristown, N.J., Vigilante is no stranger to the Atlantic Coast Conference. He graduated from NC State with a degree in psychology in 1996. He lettered three times with the Wolfpack and earned All-ACC cross country honors following his senior season.

Vigilante was an assistant coach at UNC Wilmington in 1997 when the Seahawks won their first Colonial Athletics Association outdoor conference title in school history. He then served as a graduate assistant for two seasons (1997-99) at NC State. The Wolfpack men recorded back-to-back NCAA top-10 cross country finishes, collected two ACC Championships and produced three All-Americans during that time. The NC State women also won back-to-back ACC cross country titles.

Vigilante currently resides in Charlottesville with his wife, Amy, and their three children.

Records and Achievements at UVa
11 All-Americans
    - 1 Cross Country All-American
    - 4 Indoor All-Americans
    - 6 Outdoor All-Americans
2 ACC Team Championships
    - 2008 Cross Country Champions
    - 2009 Outdoor Track and Field Co-Champions
5 ACC Individual Champions
    - 1 Cross Country ACC Champion
    - 1 ACC Indoor Champion
    - 3 ACC Outdoor Champions
17 All-Southeast Region Performers
    - 7 Cross Country All-Region
    - 10 Outdoor Track and Field All-Region
36 All-ACC Performers
    - 8 Cross Country
    - 8 Indoor Track and Field
    - 20 Outdoor Track and Field
1 ACC Freshman of the Year
    Morgane Gay: 2009 Outdoor Track and Field