Kenneth Giles enters his 21st season as head men’s track and field coach at Norfolk State University in 2025-26 and 25th as the Spartans’ head men’s cross-country coach. He has also served as director of NSU’s track and field programs for the past 12 seasons. In that capacity, he oversees the operations of both men’s and women’s track and cross-country programs with an emphasis on recruiting, scheduling and home track meet operations.
Giles led the NSU men’s cross country team to a record seven consecutive MEAC titles from 2000-06 and four more from 2008-11. The Spartans added their conference-record 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th titles in 2017, '19, '21 and ’22, ’23, ‘24 respectively. NSU also captured top-12 finishes at the NCAA Southeast Cross Country Regional in 2002 (12th) and 2005 (8th). In addition, the Spartans have four MEAC runner-up finishes under Giles (1999, 2007, ‘12, ‘16).
Giles also guided the Spartans’ track team to a record seven straight sweeps of the MEAC indoor and outdoor titles (2006-12), and eight straight MEAC indoor crowns (2006-13). The Spartans returned to the mountaintop in 2021-2025, sweeping the indoor and outdoor conference crowns to add to their cross country titles for another pair of yearly sweeps.
As an assistant track coach, he helped the Spartans to one MEAC indoor and one MEAC outdoor championship, both of which came in the 2000-01 school year.
During his tenure at NSU, Giles’ Spartans have won 11 individual MEAC cross country championships and earned three NCAA All-Southeast Region honors. One of those standouts, David Kemboi, became the first NSU and MEAC runner to ever qualify for the NCAA National Championship race, in 2006.
Since taking over as head track coach, Giles’ athletes have won more than 100 individual conference championships and over 400 All-MEAC honors on the track. His pupils have qualified for the NCAA Regionals 100 times.
During his tenure as head coach, Giles has also tutored 15 athletes who have earned USTFCCCA All-America honors. Both Marlon Woods and Corey Vinston earned All-American honors in the long jump at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championship. The previous year, Woods was named the 2008 NCAA Southeast Region Field Athlete of the Year, another first for the program. Those 14 Spartans have earned a total of 23 first or second-team or honorable mention All-America honors, including four-time All-American Martha Bissah (800 meters), three-time All-American Kiara Grant (sprints) and two-time All-Americans Sean Holston (sprints), James Taylor (sprints), Keith Nkrumah (hurdles) and Champagne Bell (long jump). Trequan Barnes also earned second-team All-America honors in 2019, the men's 4x100 relay earned outdoor All-America honors in 2021, and Kendrick Winfield (sprints) earning second team indoor All-America honors in 2025.
While Giles served as an assistant, he worked with three other Spartan All-Americans: Desmond Kapofu in the triple jump, Adrian Shears in the high jump and Olympian Christopher Brown in the 400 meters.
For his success in cross country and track, Giles has been named MEAC Most Outstanding Coach 43 times.
Giles coaches from his own running expertise. He was a standout 800-meter runner in college. In 1985, Giles earned Junior College All-American status by finishing eighth at the indoor national meet in the 800 for Hagerstown (Md.) Community College. He continued his success in that event at the University of North Florida, where he broke the school’s 800-meter indoor record.
At one time, Giles was also the personal coach for Brown, a former Division I All-American sprinter at NSU. Brown, a five-time Olympian for his native Bahamas, is a four-time Olympic medalist in the 4x400 meter relay. Brown is the only male Olympian to have competed in the 400 meters in five Olympics and is the only four-time medalist in the 4x400 relay. His medals include a 4x4 gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Giles earned his bachelor’s degree from UNF in 1987. He is married to LaCresha Giles and has two children: Kenneth Jr. (24) and Ebone Kennya (20).
