Chris Beene is in his seventh season as head coach of the cross country and track and field teams at South Plains College.

Since his arrival in Levelland, Beene has led the Texans and Lady Texans to a combined 15 NJCAA championships in men's and women's cross country, half-marathon, indoor track and outdoor track. Most recently, the Lady Texan half-marathon team won a share of the national title in November, 2010. The following March, the Lady Texan indoor team took top honors when they outscored the competition by 92 ½ points and earned Beene NJCAA Indoor Coach of the Year honors, the seventh time he has won the award in indoor and outdoor track and cross country.

Beene helped guide six athletes to nine All-American awards during the 2009 cross country season that culminated with the Texan men defending their title at the NJCAA half-marathon held in Overland Park, Kansas. Later that spring, Beene coached Kelly Closse (shot put, discus), Colleen Felix (javelin), Shakeeri Cole (800), and Marcelis Lynch (800) to individual titles in addition to helping guide the 4x800 meter relay team easily win in Hutchinson where both the men's and women's teams took home team titles for the second year in a row. For his efforts, Beene was later voted by his peers as Coach of the Year for both men and women.

The 2008-09 fall and spring seasons may very well have been the best in a rich history of South Plains College track and cross country teams as SPC won five championships out of eight possible, with the SPC men coming just short of sweeping all four. It all started with the Texans coming away with a half-marathon championship in the fall. The Texan and Lady Texan track teams then blew away their competition in the spring by sweeping each of the NJCAA indoor and outdoor national championships and are only one-of-four schools to ever win all four titles in the same year at any collegiate level.

In the last six years, Beene has coached athletes that currently hold 9 NJCAA meet or national records. His athletes who have won over 100 individual and relay national championships, and a host of all-American awards.

Beene came to South Plains College from Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, where he was named Women's NAIA Region 5 and 6 Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He also earned Men's Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2003 and 2004 and also won the NAIA Sooner Athletic Conference championship in 2003.

Before Wayland, Beene served four seasons as an assistant coach at Texas Tech University where he was in charge of coaching the multi-events, pole vault, and javelin. He has also had previous coaching stints at Abilene Christian University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

During his time at Abilene Christian, Beene was part of 12 NCAA Division II national team championships. He also coached two decathletes to individual national championships as well.

Additionally, Beene coached Stephen Moore and Trafton Rodgers. Rodgers went on to win the USATF Men's Heptathlon Indoor Championships, while Moore won a USA Indoor championship and went on to place fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Both have competed in the United States Olympic Trials, with Rodgers in 2000 and Moore in 2000 as well as 2004. Moore also won a gold medal in the decathlon at the Pan-American Games.

A former all-American decathlete, Beene received both his bachelor and master degrees in kinesiology from Angelo State University. He and his wife, Corye, have a daughter, Faith, and a son, Sage.

Blaine Wiley is in his fifth year at South Plains College. After serving two years as Assistant Coach, he was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2008. Wiley came to SPC after four seasons as an assistant coach at Texas State University.

Wiley's duties include coaching the men's and women's sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and relay teams. He received his USATF Level 1 Track and Field Certification in December of 2002 and earned his USATF Level II Certification in the Jumps in July 2006. He also attended the 2007 USA Track and Field High Performance Summit, a USATF Level III Conference.

In 2007, Wiley's first year as an assistant at SPC, he coached 7 NJCAA National Champions and 34 NJCAA All-Americans. He coached Derrick Reescano to NJCAA Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year honors and Patrick Lee to NJCAA Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year honors. His athletes set 15 school records in 2007. That year the SPC men swept the NJCAA Indoor and Outdoor National Championships and the SPC women finished 3rd indoors and 2nd outdoors.

Wiley continued his success in 2008 when he coached 9 NJCAA National Champions, and15 NJCAA All-Americans. His athletes set 14 school records in 2008. Wiley also coached Renny Quow to a personal best time (44.82) and 7th place finish in the 400 meters at the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, China. For his efforts, Wiley was recognized as the 2008 NJCAA Men's Assistant Coach of the Year as the Texans won their second straight NJCAA Outdoor National Championship. The SPC women finished as National Runners-Up for the second consecutive year.

2009 was the best year to date for the track programs at South Plains College. Along with winning 5 NJCAA National Team Championships, including a sweep of both men's and women's indoor and outdoor titles, Wiley coached 6 NJCAA National Champions and 24 NJCAA All-Americans. His athletes also set 20 school records in 2009. Wiley coached LaToy Williams to the fourth best performance in the World in the 400 meters (44.73) and a berth in the World Track & Field Championships in Berlin, Germany. Williams was recognized as the 2009 NJCAA National Athlete of the Year for his performance at the National Championships in Hutchison, Kansas.

During Wiley's four seasons as an assistant at Texas State, the Bobcat men and women won seven Southland Conference Team Championships. His sprinters claimed 16 Southland Conference individual and relay championships, 112 All-Southland Conference awards, 63 All-Time Top 10 performances, 28 NCAA Regional qualifying marks, and eight school records. Two of his athletes qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships. While at Texas State, Wiley coached LaJuana Lovett to Southland Conference Indoor and Outdoor Athlete of the Year and High Point Athlete honors in 2003 and 2004. He also coached Camilla Davis to Southland Conference High Point honors in 2006.

Before joining the staff at Texas State, Wiley was a standout sprinter for the Bobcats from 1997-2000. During his time as an athlete at Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas) he was a member of the 1998 and 2000 outdoor conference championship teams and was a two-time team captain.

Wiley was a member of the school record Sprint Medley Relay team. He also ran the second and fourth fastest times in school history in the 100 meters, the second fastest time in school history in the indoor 200 meters, and was a provisional NCAA qualifier and ranked in the top 100 in the USA in 2000 in the 100 meters (10.29). His 6.66 in the 60 meters stands as the school record for times run at altitude. Wiley ended his career as a 5-time Southland Conference finalist.

Wiley graduated from Texas State University in May 2000 with a degree in Business Administration He completed his Master's degree in Secondary Education in May 2008. His wife Julie is also a graduate from Texas State and was a member of the Bobcat track & field team from 1996-2000. They have two sons, Hayden Blaine Alan (4) and Landon James, born April 3, 2009.

Frank Barker begins his first season assisting the Texan and Lady Texan cross country and track and field teams. He will work primarily with the distance runners.

Coach Barker spent 39 years as a coach and teacher at Levelland Independent School District. His career in Levelland began in 1969 as an assistant football coach. He began coaching the cross country team in 1976 where he helped his teams qualify to every regional meet, except 1983, until his retirement.

In 1982 Barker took over as the head track coach for varsity girls.

After his retirement from Levelland after the 2008 school year, Coach Barker signed on to assist the cross country and track teams at Lubbock Christian University. In his two year stint at LCU Barker helped coach five athletes to the NAIA national meet and one became an all-American.