GEORGE SANDERLIN

Coaching Title: Director of Track & Field and Cross Country – Collins H.S.

Events Coaching: Track - Jumps, hurdles, and combined events (decathlon, heptathlon, and pentathlon)

Yrs. Coaching T & F / XC:

            Overall, Since: 2009 (18 yrs.)

            At Collins Since: 2017 (10 yrs.)

Coaching Background (History):

2017- Present – Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, Collins HS (3A), Shelbyville, KY

2009-2017 - Community Coach T & F and XC, North Atlanta HS (6A), Atlanta, GA.

Coaching Successes (highlights): Coach Sanderlin has coached one state champion in Georgia and 11 state champions in Kentucky. He has coached one national champion (800) and had three high school All-Americans (all in the steeplechase). He regularly takes athletes to post season competitions (e.g., nationals) where they finish in the top 10. He has coached over 150 school record holders at four schools in two states.

He has one of the best records of any public high school coach (in any sport) in the southeast in regularly helping athletes get into the top academic schools in the country. He has had athletes compete at Harvard, Rice, Carnegie Mellon, Brandeis, Centre, Hanover, etc. Coach Sanderlin has had 29 athletes compete at the collegiate level. Click here for a list.

He has been a coach at the Adidas Wingfoot Running Camp (Atlanta Track Club) in Huntsville, AL since 2014. He has taught the Leadership Class (aka “Role of a Captain”) at WRC since 2017. Coach Sanderlin also coaches athletes in the decathlon in post season competition for Team Kentucky Elite.

Coaching Certifications: He has a USATF Level I certification, two Level IIs (endurance and jumps), and a Level III (youth athletics). Level III is the highest level of coaching certification that USATF offers.

Current / previous jobs (besides coaching) and years: Since graduating from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business (MBA) in 1985, he has held corporate management positions at Sweetheart Cup, Browning-Ferris Industries, and Time, Inc. Coach Sanderlin Retired from UPS’ corporate office in 2007. Currently, he manages his Blue Meadow Farms in Shelby County. He is also the Executive Director of the Modern Pentathlon Club of the South www.mpcsouth.com. 

HS Athletic Background (graduating yr.): He graduated from Country Day (Louisville) in 1975 where he ran cross country, and track (400, 800, and 4 X 400 relay). He was a state meet qualifier in two sports his senior year (cross country and track).

College Athletic Background: He graduated from Centre College (Danville) in 1979 with a B.S. in Economics. As Centre, he was a conference-ranked 400 hurdler and ran on the 4 X 400 relay.

Post-College Athletics:  Coach Sanderlin has competed both nationally and internationally in five separate sports: modern pentathlon, track and field, fencing, shooting (10 meter air pistol), and polocrosse (lacrosse on horseback). As a member of the Atlanta Track Club (ATC) Masters (over 40) Team, he earned the US a bronze medal at the Pan Am Games in Clearmont, FL in the pentathlon. As an ATC member, he won multiple Georgia state age-group championships in the 400-800. He also earned a bronze medal for the US in the Canadian Modern Pentathlon Championships. He is the only high school coach in the country who has done “combined events” (tetrathlon and pentathlon) in two different sports (modern pentathlon and track and field).

What Other Coaches Say About Coach Sanderlin: To hear what other coaches (both high school and college) say about Coach Sanderlin, click on this link: https://youtu.be/5F4VR5RpmSE?si=NjXdbBlaiRpCiexI

Benevolence: Coach Sanderlin has set the standard for supporting Track & Field (includes cross country) in the Southeastern U.S. (specifically Kentucky and Georgia). His benevolence started at North Atlanta where he developed a cross country loop in the woods at the Buckhead school. He also went on to fund all their track and field equipment after the Atlanta Public Schools halted funding after spending $142 million on the new campus.

At Collins H.S., he personally funded all the track and field equipment. In 2024 he funded the addition of a steeplechase set up (barriers and water jump), as well as the addition of a new digital scoreboard. In 2025 he funded a re-furbishment of the horizontal jump runways and take-off boards. Coach Sanderlin has also developed a 5 kilometer cross country course on his main farm (one mile west of Collins H.S.) which is Collins’ home course. Collins also has a course on campus, making it the only high school in the country with two captive cross country courses.

At the collegiate level, he helped fund the construction of Centre College’s Lisa Owens Indoor Track. He has also endowed both his alma mater’s track and cross country teams.

As a long-time member of the Atlanta Track Club (ATC), he continually works with the foundation to fund certain projects. Since 2014, he has annually paid for his top endurance runners to attend the ATC’s Wingfoot Running Camp ($1,000 value per camper).

Officiating: Coach Sanderlin has been a USATF Certified Official since 2008. He has officiated High School Cross Country State Championships in Georgia and Track and Field State Championships in both Georgia and Kentucky (indoors and outdoors). He has officiated several NCAA National Cross Country Championships (Div. I and III), as well as several track and field Indoor (ACC – Chief Marshal) and outdoor conference championships (SEC Head Women’s Triple Jump Official).

(updated 7-15-26)