University of Georgia Athletics
Staff Directory
Darryl Shaw
- Title:
- Assistant Coach | Director of Creative Operations & Recruiting
- Email:
Darryl Shaw was added to the Bulldog staff as an assistant coach and Director of Creative Operations & Recruiting in July 2023 and recently completed his third season in Athens. He gives assistance to Ryan Baily in the multi-events, pole vault and jumps. Since Shaw’s arrival, the Bulldog squads have combined for three national team titles and four other top three finishes at the NCAA Championships, including three second-place showings.
Most recently, Baily and Shaw’s group made 11 improvements to the school’s all-time top 10 lists, including establishing school records in both the men’s indoor and outdoor high jump and outdoor pole vault. Thanks to senior transfer Kimani Jack sweeping the conference high jump crowns and capping his career with the 2026 NCAA outdoor high jump title, the jumpers and combined event athletes tallied six First Team All-America certificates and 13 top eight scoring spots at the SEC indoor and outdoor meets.
Jack shined indoors with his national leading high jump mark of 2.28 meters/7 feet, 5 ¾ inches for the school records before earning a bronze medal at the NCAA Championships. The London native returned outdoors and soared to the nation’s No. 1 mark to win the home Torrin Lawrence Memorial with a school record mark of 2.31m/7-7 to pick up momentum before capturing titles at SECs (2.23m/7-3.75) and NCAAs (2.28m/7-5.75). In addition to Jack, Shaw helped Baily guide third-year jumper Riyon Rankin to outdoor All-America honors with a season best effort of 2.22m/7-3.25 and newcomer transfer Brion Stephens to a pair of top four finishes at the SEC meets.
The Bulldogs also saw success in the long jump, decathlon and pole vault on the men’s side. Sophomore Jayden Keys displayed his consistency by scoring in the long jump at both the indoor and outdoor SEC and NCAA Championships and with convincing seasons bests indoors (7.89m/25-10.75) and outdoors (7.88m/25-10.25). Fellow second-year competitor Maximus Tucker followed up his silver medal in the heptathlon at the 2026 SEC Indoor Championships with the 10th-best decathlon score (7,786) in school history to win the Spec Towns Invite outdoors. Tucker advanced to the NCAA Championships and registered the No. 3 all-time Canadian decathlon 1500m time (4:07.25) to highlight the performance. Finally for the men, senior Nikolai van Huyssteen finished second at his final SEC indoor meet with a school record pole vault mark of 5.60m/18-4.50.
For the women, a group of youthful jumpers thrived in their first or second year training with Baily and Shaw. Sophomore Skylynn Townsend won the SEC indoor triple jump title with the No. 6 mark in school history (13.50m/44-3.50) and then scored a point with an eighth-place finish at Nationals during Georgia’s run to the title. Her training partner, sophomore Danah Nembhard, advanced to her first NCAA Outdoor Championsihps on a triple jump PB of 13.48m/44-2.75 after building steam during the indoor campaign with a runner-up SEC finish (13.30m/43-7.75). First-year long jumper Chelsi Williams recorded a team best outdoor mark of 6.43m/21-1.25 to win the Hurricane Invite. Indoors, another freshman, Ava Kitchings, took sixth at SECs thanks to a matching mark of 6.43m/21-1.25.
In addition, senior Ella Rush continued her development to win the heptathlon at the Spec Town Invite with a PR (5,797) and advance to the NCAA Championships after taking eighth in the pentathlon at the SEC indoor meet.
Shaw helped Baily get situated in Athens prior to the 2024 season and has continued to play a pivotal role assisting Baily with his student-athletes. In 2025, Shaw helped this group play a key role in clinching the program’s first NCAA women’s outdoor title in 2025. Elena Kulichenko posted a season best of 1.96m/6-5 to win her first outright high jump crown in her final collegiate competition. Townsend surprised the field by taking sixth with the seventh-best mark in school history (13.52m/44-4.25) to help the Bulldogs leave the competition behind by 26 points at the conclusion of Nationals.
Kulichenko tied for the 2025 NCAA indoor title thanks to a clearance of 1.94m/6-4.25. This performance came two weeks after Kulichenko became the No. 12 all-time collegiate performer with a school record mark of 1.95m/6-4.75 that earned her runner-up honors at the SEC Championships. While Townsend locked down the eighth-best indoor triple jump in UGA history (13.36m/43-10), Rush was an NCAA indoor qualifier after scoring 4,217 points in the pentathlon and was third in the heptathlon at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
The men also generated three SEC crowns and four First Team All-America certificates in 2025. Rankin built on his runner-up performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships to win the SEC outdoor championship with a personal best showing of 2.29m/7-6, which ranked tops in the nation and No. 3 in UGA history . Rankin was slowed by an injury to close his outdoor season at NCAAs. His training partner, transfer Eddie Kurjak, stormed on the scene at outdoor Nationals and scored with a tie for eighth in the high jump (2.15m/7-0.50).
A pair of underclassmen also began to show the benefits of training under Baily and Shaw. Keys scored at his first NCAA indoor meet after winning both the SEC Outdoor Championships (personal best 7.95m/26-1, No. 8 in NCAA 2025) and the league’s indoor meet (personal best 7.92/26-0, No. 5 in NCAA 2025). Micah Larry also traveled the nation’s seventh-best long jump distance (7.89m/25-10.75) to finish fourth at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Also of note, Van Huyssteen set the outdoor school record in the pole vault with a fourth-place finish at SECs (5.50m/18-0.50). The Bulldog combined event athletes continued to improve as Jordan Fick narrowly missed the NCAA Championships after scoring 7,598 points in the decathlon. He was third at the SEC meet while Tucker earned silver medal honors. Fick was also a bronze medal winner at the SEC Indoor Championships with 5,660 heptathlon points.
In Shaw’s first year working with Bailey’s corps in 2024, the jumps and combined event corps established 10 fresh marks to Georgia’s all-time top 10 lists, including two school records, had six scoring First Team All-Americans, including a national champion, and left with a pair of SEC individual title winners.
In Shaw’s first season, Kulichenko posted matching bronze medal performances and 1.91m/6-3.25 clearances at the 2024 SEC and NCAA Championships indoors before elevating her performances to an even greater level outdoors. Kulichenko soared over the bar at a Cypriot, school and meet record mark of 1.97m/6-5.50 to tie for the NCAA outdoor crown and move to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list. The 2024 SEC outdoor champion won nine competitions in 2024, clearing at least 1.84m/6-0.50 in all of her meets. Kulichenko went on to take seventh at the Paris Olympics (1.95m/6-4.75).
On the men’s side, Rankin earned a pair of First Team All-America certificates as a freshman in the high jump under Baily and Shaw’s tutelage. Rankin had indoor and outdoor seasons bests of 2.21m/7-3 during his first year in the program. Also in jumps, newcomer Zavien Wolfe posted fourth and fifth place finishes in the triple and long, respectively, at SEC Indoors while Larry soared 7.80m/25-7.25 to command the silver medal at the league’s outdoor meet.
Van Huyssteen also had a breakout season in the pole vault while triple jumper Mikeisha Welcome had a stellar finale in 2024. Van Huyssteen shattered the school record with a mark of 5.42m/17-9.25 at the NCAA East Prelims to punch his ticket to Nationals and was the SEC runner-up indoors and outdoors. Welcome was in the top eight at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, topping out with a bronze media finish indoors, and won the SEC indoor title in her final year.
Also of note, Rush, a sophomore hepathlete, won the long jump in both SEC combined event competitions and moved into UGA’s all-time top 10 list in the hep with her third place showing (5,606 points) at SECs.
Complementing Kulichenko’s success at the Olympic Games, Shaw helped Baily coach former Lady Bulldog SEC and NCAA champion and current UGA Athletic Association employee Chanice Porter to a spot on Team Jamaica in the long jump.
A native of Fayetteville, N.C., Shaw arrived in Athens after spending a year and half as the Assistant Director of Graphic Design at Duke. He designed graphics for print and social media for all 27 of Duke’s varsity sports. Shaw was the lead on the artistic front on the campaign for head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Duke, including billboards and on court branding. Shaw worked closely and traveled with the Blue Devil track and field and cross country seasons throughout the year.
Shaw was a graduate transfer at Southern California where he earned All-PAC 12 Honors in the triple jump and graduated with a Master’s degree in Digital Social Media.
Between undergraduate and graduate school, Shaw interned at Turner Sports (TNT) where he sat in on shows such as the NBA on TNT and Inside the NBA and helped produced content for NBA.com and WNBA.com.
Shaw was a triple jumper and a captain at UNC-Chapel Hill from 2015-2019. He earned First-Team All-ACC Honors in the triple jump along with multiple Second Team All-ACC Honors and was a member of the UNC Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Shaw is in the top six in UNC history in both the indoor and outdoor triple jump. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Journalism and a second degree in Communications.
Most recently, Baily and Shaw’s group made 11 improvements to the school’s all-time top 10 lists, including establishing school records in both the men’s indoor and outdoor high jump and outdoor pole vault. Thanks to senior transfer Kimani Jack sweeping the conference high jump crowns and capping his career with the 2026 NCAA outdoor high jump title, the jumpers and combined event athletes tallied six First Team All-America certificates and 13 top eight scoring spots at the SEC indoor and outdoor meets.
Jack shined indoors with his national leading high jump mark of 2.28 meters/7 feet, 5 ¾ inches for the school records before earning a bronze medal at the NCAA Championships. The London native returned outdoors and soared to the nation’s No. 1 mark to win the home Torrin Lawrence Memorial with a school record mark of 2.31m/7-7 to pick up momentum before capturing titles at SECs (2.23m/7-3.75) and NCAAs (2.28m/7-5.75). In addition to Jack, Shaw helped Baily guide third-year jumper Riyon Rankin to outdoor All-America honors with a season best effort of 2.22m/7-3.25 and newcomer transfer Brion Stephens to a pair of top four finishes at the SEC meets.
The Bulldogs also saw success in the long jump, decathlon and pole vault on the men’s side. Sophomore Jayden Keys displayed his consistency by scoring in the long jump at both the indoor and outdoor SEC and NCAA Championships and with convincing seasons bests indoors (7.89m/25-10.75) and outdoors (7.88m/25-10.25). Fellow second-year competitor Maximus Tucker followed up his silver medal in the heptathlon at the 2026 SEC Indoor Championships with the 10th-best decathlon score (7,786) in school history to win the Spec Towns Invite outdoors. Tucker advanced to the NCAA Championships and registered the No. 3 all-time Canadian decathlon 1500m time (4:07.25) to highlight the performance. Finally for the men, senior Nikolai van Huyssteen finished second at his final SEC indoor meet with a school record pole vault mark of 5.60m/18-4.50.
For the women, a group of youthful jumpers thrived in their first or second year training with Baily and Shaw. Sophomore Skylynn Townsend won the SEC indoor triple jump title with the No. 6 mark in school history (13.50m/44-3.50) and then scored a point with an eighth-place finish at Nationals during Georgia’s run to the title. Her training partner, sophomore Danah Nembhard, advanced to her first NCAA Outdoor Championsihps on a triple jump PB of 13.48m/44-2.75 after building steam during the indoor campaign with a runner-up SEC finish (13.30m/43-7.75). First-year long jumper Chelsi Williams recorded a team best outdoor mark of 6.43m/21-1.25 to win the Hurricane Invite. Indoors, another freshman, Ava Kitchings, took sixth at SECs thanks to a matching mark of 6.43m/21-1.25.
In addition, senior Ella Rush continued her development to win the heptathlon at the Spec Town Invite with a PR (5,797) and advance to the NCAA Championships after taking eighth in the pentathlon at the SEC indoor meet.
Shaw helped Baily get situated in Athens prior to the 2024 season and has continued to play a pivotal role assisting Baily with his student-athletes. In 2025, Shaw helped this group play a key role in clinching the program’s first NCAA women’s outdoor title in 2025. Elena Kulichenko posted a season best of 1.96m/6-5 to win her first outright high jump crown in her final collegiate competition. Townsend surprised the field by taking sixth with the seventh-best mark in school history (13.52m/44-4.25) to help the Bulldogs leave the competition behind by 26 points at the conclusion of Nationals.
Kulichenko tied for the 2025 NCAA indoor title thanks to a clearance of 1.94m/6-4.25. This performance came two weeks after Kulichenko became the No. 12 all-time collegiate performer with a school record mark of 1.95m/6-4.75 that earned her runner-up honors at the SEC Championships. While Townsend locked down the eighth-best indoor triple jump in UGA history (13.36m/43-10), Rush was an NCAA indoor qualifier after scoring 4,217 points in the pentathlon and was third in the heptathlon at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
The men also generated three SEC crowns and four First Team All-America certificates in 2025. Rankin built on his runner-up performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships to win the SEC outdoor championship with a personal best showing of 2.29m/7-6, which ranked tops in the nation and No. 3 in UGA history . Rankin was slowed by an injury to close his outdoor season at NCAAs. His training partner, transfer Eddie Kurjak, stormed on the scene at outdoor Nationals and scored with a tie for eighth in the high jump (2.15m/7-0.50).
A pair of underclassmen also began to show the benefits of training under Baily and Shaw. Keys scored at his first NCAA indoor meet after winning both the SEC Outdoor Championships (personal best 7.95m/26-1, No. 8 in NCAA 2025) and the league’s indoor meet (personal best 7.92/26-0, No. 5 in NCAA 2025). Micah Larry also traveled the nation’s seventh-best long jump distance (7.89m/25-10.75) to finish fourth at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Also of note, Van Huyssteen set the outdoor school record in the pole vault with a fourth-place finish at SECs (5.50m/18-0.50). The Bulldog combined event athletes continued to improve as Jordan Fick narrowly missed the NCAA Championships after scoring 7,598 points in the decathlon. He was third at the SEC meet while Tucker earned silver medal honors. Fick was also a bronze medal winner at the SEC Indoor Championships with 5,660 heptathlon points.
In Shaw’s first year working with Bailey’s corps in 2024, the jumps and combined event corps established 10 fresh marks to Georgia’s all-time top 10 lists, including two school records, had six scoring First Team All-Americans, including a national champion, and left with a pair of SEC individual title winners.
In Shaw’s first season, Kulichenko posted matching bronze medal performances and 1.91m/6-3.25 clearances at the 2024 SEC and NCAA Championships indoors before elevating her performances to an even greater level outdoors. Kulichenko soared over the bar at a Cypriot, school and meet record mark of 1.97m/6-5.50 to tie for the NCAA outdoor crown and move to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list. The 2024 SEC outdoor champion won nine competitions in 2024, clearing at least 1.84m/6-0.50 in all of her meets. Kulichenko went on to take seventh at the Paris Olympics (1.95m/6-4.75).
On the men’s side, Rankin earned a pair of First Team All-America certificates as a freshman in the high jump under Baily and Shaw’s tutelage. Rankin had indoor and outdoor seasons bests of 2.21m/7-3 during his first year in the program. Also in jumps, newcomer Zavien Wolfe posted fourth and fifth place finishes in the triple and long, respectively, at SEC Indoors while Larry soared 7.80m/25-7.25 to command the silver medal at the league’s outdoor meet.
Van Huyssteen also had a breakout season in the pole vault while triple jumper Mikeisha Welcome had a stellar finale in 2024. Van Huyssteen shattered the school record with a mark of 5.42m/17-9.25 at the NCAA East Prelims to punch his ticket to Nationals and was the SEC runner-up indoors and outdoors. Welcome was in the top eight at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, topping out with a bronze media finish indoors, and won the SEC indoor title in her final year.
Also of note, Rush, a sophomore hepathlete, won the long jump in both SEC combined event competitions and moved into UGA’s all-time top 10 list in the hep with her third place showing (5,606 points) at SECs.
Complementing Kulichenko’s success at the Olympic Games, Shaw helped Baily coach former Lady Bulldog SEC and NCAA champion and current UGA Athletic Association employee Chanice Porter to a spot on Team Jamaica in the long jump.
A native of Fayetteville, N.C., Shaw arrived in Athens after spending a year and half as the Assistant Director of Graphic Design at Duke. He designed graphics for print and social media for all 27 of Duke’s varsity sports. Shaw was the lead on the artistic front on the campaign for head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Duke, including billboards and on court branding. Shaw worked closely and traveled with the Blue Devil track and field and cross country seasons throughout the year.
Shaw was a graduate transfer at Southern California where he earned All-PAC 12 Honors in the triple jump and graduated with a Master’s degree in Digital Social Media.
Between undergraduate and graduate school, Shaw interned at Turner Sports (TNT) where he sat in on shows such as the NBA on TNT and Inside the NBA and helped produced content for NBA.com and WNBA.com.
Shaw was a triple jumper and a captain at UNC-Chapel Hill from 2015-2019. He earned First-Team All-ACC Honors in the triple jump along with multiple Second Team All-ACC Honors and was a member of the UNC Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Shaw is in the top six in UNC history in both the indoor and outdoor triple jump. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Journalism and a second degree in Communications.
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