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EL PASO, Texas – Austin Litherland, a former NCAA rifle student-athlete for Tennessee Tech and Akron and a 4-H club shooting coach, has been named the head coach for the UTEP rifle team it was revealed by UTEP Director of Athletics
Jim Senter on Monday.
"We are excited about hiring an up-and-coming young coach in Austin Litherland," Senter said. "His passion both for winning and the sport of rifle shone through during the interview process. He brings a championship pedigree, having been a part of a conference title team at Akron. He has compiled some exceptional coaching experience over the last decade. We're looking forward to tracking the progress of the UTEP Rifle program under his leadership."
Litherland has eight years of experience of mentoring individuals as the 4-H club shooting coach in his hometown of St. Francisville, La. He developed practices in both shooting disciplines (air rifle and smallbore) in a safe manner, motivated and encouraged his squad members to excel on the range and in the classroom, advised the application process for NCAA Athletics, matched ammunition with both smallbore and air rifles and kept an inventory of range equipment.
A former Level 1 Certified Shooting Range Official, Litherland helped develop three high school student-athletes who went on to compete at the collegiate level with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Air Force Academy and Morehead University. One of them subsequently made the 2016 United States Olympic Team.
Additionally he served as a range official volunteer for USA Shooting in Fort Benning, Ga., in the summers from 2008-10. Litherland was responsible for managing a crew of five volunteers for the World Cup gun locker, developing and implementing an inventory tracking system of the U.S. World Cup while also maintaining the targeting system on both 50 meter and 25 meter ranges.
"It's a dream job," Litherland said. "I've always wanted to coach and I think UTEP is a great opportunity with a lot of potential there."
Litherland competed for three years at Tennessee Tech before the program was discontinued. He was the Ohio Valley Conference Air Rifle Athlete of the Month in Nov. 2009 and ranked in the top eight of the league for both air rifle and smallbore in the league as a junior. He was a two-time member of the Academic Dean's list and graduated with a bachelor's degree of science in interdisciplinary studies in 2011.
He then joined the Zips where he helped them win the 2012 Mid Atlantic Conference rifle championship. Litherland rated fifth on the squad for 40-shot air rifle average. He completed his master's degree in sport administration from the school in 2012.
Litherland competed with the West Feliciana 4H rifle team from 2001-07, serving as a co-captain for the team from 2004-07. He was a three-time (2003-05) Louisiana State Junior Olympic champion who went on to finish 75th at the National Rifle Championships in 2006.
"I'm happy to have the opportunity to continue to give back to a sport that gave me so much," Litherland said. "I'm proud to now be a part of the Miners' coaching staff."
