Jeff Pflaumbaum recently concluded his fourth season with the Quakers as an Assistant Throws Coach. In those four years Pflaumbaum has coached six All-Americans, 19 NCAA East Region qualifiers, 12 Ivy League champions, nine top-10 Ivy League performances and 33 top-10 Penn performances. During his tenure, Pflaumbaum has also seen school records established in seven of the twelve throwing events.
The 2019-20 Indoor season included school records in both the Men’s and Women’s Weight Throw by Jake Kubiatowicz and Mayyi Mahama. Kubiatowicz finished the season as the Ivy League Runner-Up. Mahama went on to win the Ivy title, establish a new Penn and Ivy League record as well as qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championship. School record holder Maura Kimmel repeated as champion in the Indoor Shot Put. Kimmel capped her career with new Throws Program records in Ivy points (69) and Ivy Podium/Top Three finishes (9).
In the 2018-19 Indoor and Outdoor seasons, Pflaumbaum oversaw the development of three All-American performers in 2019, including Ashley Anumba (Discus), Mayyi Mahama (Hammer) and Marc Minichello (Javelin). Both Mahama and Minichello won the 2019 Junior National Championship and represented Team USA at the Pan Junior Games. Minichello’s mark was #2 in US Junior history and #2 in program history (behind former National Champion Brian Chaput). Minichello completed his rookie year by competing at the 2019 USA Championships. Mahama’s Hammer mark was both a new Penn school record as well as the #3 throw in US Junior history. Anumba, Mahama, Minichello as well as Maura Kimmel (Shot Put), Cam Landis (Shot Put), Chudi Ikpeazu (Discus), Campbell Parker (Discus) and Jake Kubiatowicz (Hammer) all qualified for the NCAA East Region Prelims.
Additionally, new school records were established by Maura Kimmel in the Indoor Shot Put (#2 Ivy League history), Ashley Anumba in the Discus (#2 Ivy League history), and Rachel Wilson in both the Weight Throw (#3 Ivy League history) and Hammer Throw (#2 Ivy League history). Kimmel and Wilson won two Ivy League titles a piece. Wilson was also ECAC Champion in the Hammer Throw. Marc Minichello won the Ivy title in the Javelin. And Cam Landis (Indoor Shot Put), Mayyi Mahama (Weight Throw), Kirstin West (Javelin), and Ashley Anumba (Shot Put & Discus) finished as runners-up earning them 2nd Team All-Ivy honors. Wilson graduated as a four time Ivy Champion, school record holder in both the Hammer and Weight Throw, and Throws Program record-holder for Ivy points (66) and Ivy Podium/Top Three finishes (7).
Pflaumbaum helped the throws squad reach new distances during the 2017-18 season, and was named 2018 Women's Mid-Atlantic Assistant Coach of the Year during the outdoor portion of the year, after guiding three student-athletes to Ivy League titles and advancing two to All-America status at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Oregon. Brooke Cope (Javelin), Rachel Wilson (Hammer, Weight Throw) and Ashley Anumba (Discus), all won Ivy Heps titles, and were joined at the NCAA East Region Prelims by Maura Kimmel, who qualified in both the Shot Put and Discus and Sean Ryan in the Hammer). Both Wilson and Anumba advanced to Oregon. Three of the four throwing events on the women's side boast school-record holders under the tutelage of Pflaumbaum.
On the men's side, Pflaumbaum helped guide Sean Ryan to his second-straight NCAA East Region qualification in the Hammer Throw.
In his first year with the Red and Blue, Pflaumbaum helped six student-athletes to the NCAA East Region Prelims, including one Ivy League Outdoor Heptagonal Championship as Noah Kennedy-White captured his first title in the Discus throw. Joining Kennedy-White on the men's side, Billy Bishop (Shot Put), Sean Ryan (Hammer) and Sam Kaplan (Javelin) all competed in post-season action, while the women's side featured Maura Kimmel (Discus) and Lisa Sesink-Clee (Javelin). The Penn Throws squad finished in the Top Three in all eight throwing events.
Kimmel helped lead the women's side to a record-breaking year, as the freshman set two school records in her first year, while Rachel Wilson and Isis Trotman also landed atop the Penn record books.
Pflaumbaum comes to Penn following successful collegiate coaching stints at Lehigh University, Swarthmore College and Temple University. During a span of five seasons, Pflaumbaum has guided five student-athletes to NCAA national qualifying marks, 48 IC4A/ECAC qualifiers, 33 all-conference honorees and a total of eight school records have been broken under his tutelage.
At Lehigh, Pflaumbaum was the assistant track & field coach of throwing and multi-events as well as the recruiting coordinator from 2013-16. During his time with the Mountain Hawks, Pflaumbaum led three student-athletes to Patriot League titles including the 2016 men’s Shot Put Champion and the 2016 and 2015 women’s Javelin Champion.
During the 2011-12 seasons, Pflaumbaum was the throwing and multi-events assistant coach at Temple University where he led student-athletes to three conference titles in the Indoor Shot Put, Outdoor Shot Put and Discus. Additionally, he guided qualifiers to NCAA Nationals and Junior Nationals and three of Temple’s school records were broken during that campaign. At the conclusion of the conference season, his protégé garnered A-10 Rookie of the Year honors.
Coach Pflaumbaum moved to Swarthmore College the following year to serve as the team’s strength coach as well as work with the throwers and multi-events athletes. At Swarthmore his athletes earned three top-three performances at the Centennial Conference Championship, three ECAC qualifying marks and broke four school records.
As a thrower at NC State, Pflaumbaum was an All-ACC honoree in the discus and an NCAA qualifier in the weight throw. Following his collegiate career, he earned four sub-masters All-American accolades in the shot put. He holds a B.A. in Religion with a Classical Greek minor from N.C. State and a B.M. in Contemporary Writing from The Berklee College of Music.
Pflaumbaum holds USATF Level 1 and USATF Level 2 – Throws certifications and the USTFCCCA 310 Strength and Conditioning certification.
