Rod Jett will enter his fifth season at St. Francis in 2020. He will serve as an assistant this season after serving as the head coach from 2016-19. He brings nearly 40 years of experience in the sport as an athlete and coach.

Jett led the Troubadour program to the Sac-Joaquin Masters, Division I and Delta League team titles in 2019 while tutoring sophomore hurdler Reyna Johnson to a breakout season that culminated in a fifth-place finish at the CIF State Championships and her breaking the school record seven times. The 4x100m relay also advanced to the CIF State Championships in 2019.

He also led St. Francis to three consecutive second-place finishes in the Delta League (2016-18) and three top-10 places at the Sac-Joaquin Section meet, including third-place finishes in 2016 and 2017.

The Troubies broke five school records in 2018, including two hurdle marks by Johnson, who was a Masters finalist in her first season. High jumper Isabell Palchak won the section title and advanced to the CIF State Championships after a third-place Masters finish. The team finished with the second-best grade point average in the section with a 3.481 cumulative mark.

In 2017, SF posted eight top-10 finishes and advanced nine competitors to the finals at the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals. The Troubadours top finishers were the 4x100-meter relay and freshman Isabella Palchak in the high jump, garnering fourth-place finishes.

In his first season, Jett directed the program to a second-place finish in the Delta League and a third-place finish at the Sac-Joaquin Section meet, while helping the Troubadours qualify student-athletes in four events at the CIF State Championships in 2016. The 4x100-meter relay set a school record in finishing 11th, while the 4x400 ranked ninth and recorded the fifth-best time in the state during the season.

Senior Ariane Arndt reset her own Sac-Joaquin Section meet record in winning the 400 meters and finished third at the state meet in the 800 meters. She broke her own school record in both events. The team also shined at the Arcadia Invitational, winning three events.

Jett was a three-time All-American at University of California, Berkeley and national runner-up in the 110 hurdles in 1988. He was a three-time U.S. Olympic Trials participant (1988, 1992, 1996) and ranked in the Top 30 in the world five times as a professional.

A Sacramento native, Jett graduated from Hiram Johnson High School in 1984 and was a California State Meet finalist in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles.

Jett began his high school coaching career in 1998 and has coached at Sheldon High School (Elk Grove), St. Mary’s (Berkeley) and Jesuit. Since joining the Jesuit staff in 2002, he has helped lead the Marauders to eight league titles, five Division I Sac-Joaquin Section titles and one CIF State Championship. He has coached state qualifying sprinters and hurdlers at each school. Under Jett’s tutelage, Jesuit athletes have broken virtually every school spring, hurdle and relay record.

Jett currently teaches U.S. History and Global Studies at Jesuit. In his career he has also taught World History, American Government, and Geometry. He will continue to assist with the Jesuit sprinters and hurdlers.

Jett continues to compete in Masters track meets in the sprints and hurdles, ranking in the top five all-time in the 110 hurdles for ages 40-44 and 45-49. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters.

Year                       Delta                     SJS

2016                       2nd                        3rd

2017                       2nd                        3rd

2018                       T2nd                      7th

2019                       1st                          1st