AuDrey Dempsey Branch Named Assistant Women’s Track Coach

Sept. 14, 2001

CLEMSON, S.C. – AuDrey Dempsey Branch, former men’s and women’s assistant track and field coach at the University of Kentucky, has been named assistant women’s track and field coach at Clemson University, Tiger head coach Marcia Noad announced Friday.

“We are very excited about adding AuDrey to our staff. She brings a lot of different experiences, not only as an athlete but also as a coach, to our program,” said Noad. “She has experience in the ACC as an athlete, as she competed at Georgia Tech. She was an All-America scholar there as well as an ACC Champion in the 100m hurdles and the 4x400m relay. She has a variety of coaching experiences including positions at the high school, collegiate and club level.

“AuDrey will be coaching the sprinters, middle distance and distance athletes, and she and I will be co-coaching the cross country team as she was an all-conference cross country performer at Alabama A&M. She brings a new excitement and enthusiasm for what she does here and we feel very confident that she, myself and Coach Cathrine Erickson will work well together not only in the office, but also on the road recruiting and when we travel with the team. We are on the same page as far as what our goals are for this program. I feel that we are beginning to move on to bigger and better things not just with the staff, but with the team as a whole.”

A 1997 graduate of Alabama A&M University, Dempsey Branch served as assistant coach at Kentucky since July of 1999. Her primary responsibilities with the Wildcats included coaching the hurdles, sprints and jumps.

Prior to her stint at Kentucky, Dempsey Branch was the men’s and women’s assistant coach at West Virginia University from September of 1998 through July of 1999. She was primarily responsible for coaching the hurdle and jump events while with the Mountaineers.

She has also had experience within the high school ranks, as she served as the assistant track coach at Bob Jones high School in Huntsville Alabama in 1997, before assuming the head track and field coaches’ position at Spelman College for the 1997-98 academic year. She began her coaching career in 1993 at Morehouse College as the men’s assistant track and field coach. Since January of 1998, Dempsey Branch has served as an assistant track and field coach with the Quicksilver Summer Track Club in Atlanta, GA. Overall, Dempsey Branch has coached 18 All-Americans in the triple jump, middle distance, relay or sprint events.

“It’s kind of like a child going away to school and then coming home,” said Dempsey Branch. “I am at peace and feel like I have found a new family. I am excited, eager and ready to go. All of this coaching staff is from ACC schools and we have a sense of what it takes to be successful in the ACC and at the national level.”

On Sept. 1, the former AuDrey Dempsey married Terrance Branch.