Kansas State hires decorated Arkansas assistant Travis Geopfert as track and field coach

Travis Geopfert, a highly decorated assistant coach during two stints at national power Arkansas, has been named Kansas State's new director of track and field/cross country.

Geopfert, who replaces recently retired hall of fame coach Cliff Rovelto, agreed to a five-year contract, which was approved by K-State Athletics' board of directors and university president Richard Linton.

"The sustained success during coach Rovelto's hall of fame career and the recent facility upgrades for our program make this a very attractive job, sough after by many phenomenal candidates," K-State athletics director Gene Taylor said Thursday in a statement announcing Geopfert's hiring. "Travis' recent success at one of the top track and field programs in the country certainly speaks for itself, but he also has strong Midwest roots, head coaching experience and a tremendous ability to recruit globally.

"He will coach eight Olympians in this year's Paris games, and we are excited for the future of K-State track and field under his leadership."

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Geopfert, 45, is a native of Panora, Iowa, is a 2002 graduate of Northern Iowa, where he was a three-time Missouri Valley Conference champion and All-American. He has 22 years of coaching experience, including 12 at Arkansas, where he was a part of two NCAA championship teams.

Geopfert's head coaching experience came at Northern Iowa in 2008-09. He then was an assistant at Arkansas from 2009-18, associate coach at Tennessee from 2018-21, and then returned to Arkansas as associate head coach from 2021-24.

"It's not lost on me the shoes that I'm trying to fill in following a legendary coach," Geopfert said. "Coach Rovelto has built a foundation at Kansas State that makes this one of the most attractive opportunities in NCAA track and field.

"With that, I promise to work tirelessly for the alumni and current student-athletes here at Kansas State."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @arnegreen.