Aug. 12, 2005
ATLANTA – AuDrey Dempsey-Branch was named assistant women’s track and field coach, announced by head coach Alan Drosky on Friday afternoon. Dempsey-Branch joins the Tech staff after serving as an assistant women’s track coach at Clemson from 2001-05, and will oversee the Jacket sprinters and intermediate hurdlers, handle all aspects of recruiting for those events, coordinate the training of the combined events and handle various administrative duties.
“We’re excited to have AuDrey join our staff and renew her association with Georgia Tech,” said Drosky. “She was a great competitor during her time here and has gone on to become a very accomplished coach. Years ago she came to Georgia Tech as a young and talented woman and we welcome her, and her family, back as an outstanding coach with great passion for her work. We know she’ll bring that same passion to our program.”
While serving as an assistant at Clemson, Dempsey-Branch turned the Tiger sprinters and relay teams into one of the best in the country. The Lady Tigers captured the 4×400-meter relay titles at the 2004 indoor and outdoor ACC Championships. Dempsey-Branch also guided the 4x400m relay team to All-America honors at the ’04 Indoor NCAA Championships and a ninth-place finish at the ’05 indoor NCAA meet.
Prior to Clemson, Dempsey-Branch served as an assistant men’s and women’s track coach at the University of Kentucky from 1999-2001. There she handled sprints, hurdles and jumps, and had three school records fall under her watch. Simidele Adeagbo highlighted her work with the Wildcats, finishing fourth at the 2001 Indoor NCAA Championships and earning All-America honors.
Before becoming an assistant at Kentucky, Dempsey-Branch worked as an assistant coach at West Virginia University. There she turned the Mountaineer sprint program into a force in the NCAA, qualifying athletes for the championships in the 100- and 200-meter dash events, 400m hurdles, along with the 4x100m relay.
As an athlete, Dempsey-Branch was a three-year letterwinner for the Yellow Jackets. She won three ACC championships in the 100-meter high hurdles and 4x400m relay events, and continues to be part of the indoor and outdoor 4x400m relay records at Tech, set in 1992. That same season, Dempsey-Branch ran a leg of the Tech record-setting Sprint Medley Relay team that clocked the eighth-best time in the World. She earned a total of four All-ACC honors in those events, along with the 400m hurdles, and qualified for the indoor NCAA Championships in the 4x400m relay, and outdoor NCAA meet in the 4×400 and 400m hurdles. That summer Dempsey-Branch competed at the ’92 Olympic Trials in the 400m hurdles.
Dempsey-Branch graduated from Alabama A&M in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition. After graduating magna cum laude, she became head coach at Spellman College for the 1997-98 season.
The Atlanta native is married to Terrence Branch, a former Reebok track and field athlete, who competed at Southeast Missouri State University. The couple has a one-year-old daughter, Colleen, born on May 19, 2004.
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