Men's Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach/Jumps
- Email:
- teitel@msubobcats.com
- Phone:
- 406.994.6259
Tom Eitel originally served as a member of the Montana State coaching staff from 1989-91 and has been full-time in his current tenure with the Bobcats since 1996. He has more than two decades of experience coaching jumps and multi events in the Big Sky Conference.
While at MSU, Eitel has coached 22 student-athletes to 53 individual conference titles. Eitel has had student-athletes accumulate a combined 156 All-Big Sky Conference selections. At a national level, he has had 21 qualifiers for the NCAA Championships, with 13 earning All-America honors. The women's team's best performance ever came under Eitel's guidance as Ellie Rudy earned back-to-back national championships in the pole vault in 2007 and 2008.
Eitel was behind two benchmark pole vaulters in the Big Sky that cleared 18 feet for the men and 14 for the women, which were firsts for the conference at that time.
His athletes continue to have success as of late. During the 2018-19 track and field indoor and outdoor seasons, Eitel's athletes combined for two gold medals and nine all-conference performances. Junior Wyatt Thompson-Siporen achieved four all-conference efforts, as he earned gold in the indoor pole vault along with two silver medals in the multi events. Senior Alex Lewis became MSU's record holder in the men's indoor and outdoor long jump, breaking the Bobcats' longest standing records. Lucy Corbett earned a gold medal in the high jump indoors and was named the Big Sky's Female Freshman of the Year. Corbett followed it up with another gold medal during the 2019-20 indoor season while Thompson-Siporen, Caleb Neth and Noah Martin all achieved all-conference honors at the Big Sky Championships.
Currently, student-athletes under his tutelage hold 18 out of 20 indoor and outdoor school records in the jumps and multis. He currently serves primarily working with MSU's pole vaulters and multi-event athletes.
Eitel began his collegiate athletic career at Iowa State before finishing his eligibility with Montana State. As a Bobcat, he was the 1982 Big Sky Conference Champion in the pole vault and held the school record of 16-09.00 for eight years. He earned his degree from Montana in 1983.
Tom is married to MSU Associate Athletic Director Camie Bechtold and has a son, Morgan, and daughter, Pipi.
