Derek Rousseau

Derek Rousseau joined the Virginia staff in September 2025 and coaches the sprinters and jumpers for the Cavaliers.

Rousseau comes to Charlottesville after a successful eight seasons as a member of the MIT coaching staff overseeing the men’s and women’s jumpers and sprinters. He landed at MIT after four years as the head coach for the State University of New York at Oswego. In addition, Rousseau was also a member of the MIT Sports Performance staff, where he worked with student-athletes from across the Institute’s 33 intercollegiate programs.

In the 2022-23 season, Rousseau’s athletes captured a pair of NCAA individual national championships as Kenneth Wei earned the indoor long jump title and Enoch Ellis captured the 110-meter hurdle championship at the outdoor championship meet. At the conclusion of the season, Rousseau was named as the USTFCCCA Men’s Outdoor Track and Field National Assistant Coach of the Year.

In his first season with the Engineers, Rousseau was honored as the USTFCCCA East Region Men’s Indoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year and in 2018-19, Yorai Shaoul captured the NCAA indoor and outdoor triple jump national championships. In the 2021-22 season, Rousseau coached Kenneth Wei to both the NCAA indoor and outdoor long jump titles and the outdoor high jump NCAA championship by Kimmy McPherson.

Rousseau holds several coaching certifications, including both the USATF Level III and IAAF Level 5 certifications in the jumping events and is a USTFCCCA Sprint / Hurdle / Relay Specialist. Rousseau also holds a USTFCCCA Strength and Conditioning license and is a NASM Certified Performance Enhancement Specialist.

Rousseau received his M.Ed in Counseling from Providence College and earned his Bachelor in Psychology from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut in 2004.