Michael Eskind - Track & Field Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics

Michael Eskind

Title:
Associate Head Coach / Recruiting Coordinator (Jumps/Pole Vault/Multis)
Email:
meskind@unc.edu

Michael Eskind is in his seventh year as the Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at the University of North Carolina. Eskind directly oversees the development of student-athletes in the jumps, pole vault and combined events.

Under Eskind’s guidance, his athletes have rewritten the Carolina record books and left their mark on the conference championship level as well. Anna Keefer set the school record (21-6) in the women’s long jump in 2022. Keefer won her second ACC that same year in the long jump. Keefer also earned back-to-back All-America honors in the long jump from 2021-22. The second Carolina athlete to take the top spot was Alex Potts, who has the record (14-1.75) for the women’s indoor pole vault in 2022. Eskind’s women’s pole vaulters have five spots in the record book. In the multi-events, Eskind’s athletes Max Stakun-Pickering and Sam Corley are second and third all-time, and both finished 3rd and fourth at the ACC Championships in 2025. Eskind has found success developing his athletes early and often. In her first year at Carolina, Evie Culbreath has already moved into the top ten of the pentathlon in tenth. Maddey Kelly is fourth all-time outdoors and tenth all-time indoors for the pole vault.

In his first indoor season with the Tar Heels, Eskind coached five jumpers to All-ACC honors. Seniors Brianna Isles and Isa Paschall each set personal bests in the men’s and women’s triple jump at the ACC Indoor Championships while freshman Sydney Banks and senior Draven Crist each earned All-ACC honors in their respective high jump competitions. Anna Keefer, an All-America long jumper, earned her fifth All-ACC honor in the event while also finishing the season with an All-ACC performance and the second-best time in program history in the 60-meter dash.

Prior to Carolina, Eskind was named Stanford's associate head coach and recruiting coordinator in December 2017 after four seasons as an assistant coach for the Cardinal, during which he also coached the jumps, pole vault and multis events. Prior to his time at Stanford, Eskind served as an assistant coach for a number of programs — four seasons with the University of Virginia (2008-2012), two seasons with Boston University (2006-2008) and three seasons as the volunteer assistant coach with the University of Florida’s men’s program (2003-2006).

Over the span of his career, Eskind has coached nine first-team All-Americans (four indoor and five outdoor), nine student-athletes to 22 NCAA Championship appearances and a multitude of student-athletes to an impressive 72 all-time top-10 performances in the history of the Stanford University and University of Virginia track & field and cross country programs.

At Stanford, Eskind led 22 different athletes into the Cardinal all-time indoor and outdoor top-10 performers lists, including four school records in the decathlon, the men’s heptathlon and both the men’s indoor and outdoor triple jump.

Harrison Williams, a six-time NCAA first-team All-American, became Stanford's first male NCAA multi-events champion with his 2018 NCAA Indoor Championship heptathlon title and set the school multis record for the seventh time, scoring 6,042 points for the win.

In just his second collegiate decathlon, Williams broke Stanford's oldest record, the 63-year-old mark set by Bob Mathias while winning the gold medal and setting a world record at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Williams went on to finish fourth at the NCAA Championships and repeated as U.S. junior champion while breaking the U.S. junior record.

In 2018, Williams became Stanford's first conference decathlon champion in 24 years and his 1,641-point margin of victory is believed to be a meet record. Williams was also the runner up in the men’s decathlon at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas.

Eskind also coached Darian Brooks, who won titles from 2014-16, to become the only three-time men's triple jump champion in Pac-12 history.

Eskind created a strong pole vault group for both the men’s and women’s programs at Stanford. In 2018, both Kaitlyn Merritt and Erika Malaspina advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In 2016, the men's team featured three vaulters -- Dylan Duvio, Williams, and Garrett Starkey -- over 17-3. Duvio placed third in the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships and was ninth in the U.S. Championships the same year, with a best of 18-1 3/4 (5.53 meters). He was also the Pac-12 runner-up in 2016.

Under Eskind, Jaak Uudmae was one of the most versatile jumpers in Stanford history, with bests of 25-9 1/4 in the long jump, 51-5 3/4 in the triple, and 6-10 3/4 in the high jump. And in 2018, in the women's triple jump, Marisa Kwiatkowski set a Philippines national triple jump record of 42-4 3/4 (12.92 meters).

Eskind also coached a number of successful Cardinal high jumpers. Jules Sharpe, a second-team All-American in the men’s event, jumped a lifetime-best 7-3 1/4 (2.21 meters) during his final indoor season while Rachel Reichenbach finished 12th at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships just two weeks after clearing her personal-best height at the West Preliminary Round. Dartis Willis, who jumped 7-2 1/4 (2.19 meters), was also a multi-time regional qualifier in the men’s high jump.

Eskind joined Stanford after four seasons with Virginia, where he coached jumpers, vaulters and multis from 2008-12. He coached Cavaliers to four Atlantic Coast Conference individual championships, four school records and five NCAA meet appearances. Among them was Marcus Robinson, who set an ACC indoor triple jump record and became Virginia's first All-American in the men's jumps in 35 years. Robinson was also named the 2012 Southeast Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year.

In the high jump, Eskind coached Pearl Bickersteth to clear 6-0 (1.83 meters) in the women’s event after leading her to an ACC Indoor Championship title in 2012. He also helped All-ACC Cavalier Greg Nelson set a new personal record of 7-0 (2.14 meters).

Eskind was an assistant at Boston University for two seasons, designing training plans for athletes in the sprints, vertical jumps, throws and multi-events from 2006-08.

Eskind’s athletes also have found success on the national and international stages outside of NCAA competition. Two of Eskind’s triple jumpers each won U.S. Olympic Trials championships to qualify for the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games — Shani Marks in 2008 and Amanda Smock in 2012. Eskind has coached two World Outdoor Championship participants (2007, 2009, 2011), two World Indoor Championship participants (2008, 2012) and three U.S. National Junior and Senior Champions.

Now returning to his Atlantic Coast Conference roots, Eskind was a decathlete at Wake Forest, where he graduated in 2003 with degrees in political science and communication. He earned his master's in exercise and sport sciences with a focus in athletic administration in 2005 from University of Florida, where he began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant.

Eskind, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, is married to Kristin and they have a son, Benjamin.