Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant Coach, Hurdles
- Email:
- Phone:
- 412-539-9379
Elisha Brewer joined the Pitt track and field coaching staff in October of 2022 and serves as an assistant coach, focusing on developing the Panthers hurdlers. Brewer comes to Pitt after eighteen seasons on the coaching staff at Kansas.
As the sprints and hurdles coach at Kansas, Brewer coached 22 All-Americans, who shattered numerous sprint and hurdle records under her tutelage.
Brewer’s pupil Cordell Tinch was named the 2019 Big 12 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Outstanding Freshman of the Year. With a 13.72 time, he earned a first-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles during the 2019 Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
Brewer guided Michael Stigler, a four time All-American, to a national title at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships and four-straight Big 12 400-meter hurdles titles. Stigler was an outstanding dual hurdler with a 400-meter hurdles PR of 48.44, and a time of 13.77 in the 100-meter hurdles. Stigler ran a school-record in the 600 yards with a time of 1:08.59 in 2014. During his first year of competition, Stigler was named the Big 12’s Freshman Track Athlete of the Year.
Brewer led the All-American 4x100-meter relay team to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, en route to Kansas’ first women’s national title in program history in 2013. During this time, Paris Daniels dominated the Big 12. Brewer mentored Daniels to three Big 12 200-meter championships, three First-Team All-America distinctions and the 2013 Big 12 Performer of the Year accolade. Daniels proved an integral piece of the 4x100-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay, and the National Championship Team.
Under Brewer’s leadership, Keith Hayes was a 2009 Big 12 finalist in the 60-meter hurdles, placing fifth. Later that season, Hayes would go on to take second in the 110-meter hurdles at the Midwest Regional Championships and fourth at the USA Junior National meet.
Brewer’s pupil Nickesha Anderson recorded one of the best seasons in Jayhawk history in 2008. A four time All-American, Anderson holds school records in the 60-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter. Anderson became the first woman in Jayhawk history to win two All-America honors in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Her career-best time of 7.22 in the 60-meter dash earned her the Big 12 Championship in that event. To end her collegiate career, Anderson was the 2008 NCAA runner up in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.67. Anderson would go on to represent Jamaica as a member of the 4x100-meter relay team in the 2008 Olympics.
Other notable athletes coached by Brewer include Sha’Ray Butler, Ashley Brown, and Julius Jiles. Butler was a member of the Kansas record-breaking 4x400-meter relay team, Big 12 finalist, and NCAA Midwest Regional top-five finisher in the 400-meter hurdles. Brown was the first 400-meter All American hurdler in Kansas history (57.15 seconds), and 2007 Big 12 Champion in the 100-meter hurdles (13.27 seconds). Jiles was the first 110-meter All-American hurdler in Jayhawk history with a 13.95 at the 2007 NCAA Championships.
Prior to her tenure at Kansas, Brewer coached at Cincinnati from 2001-2004, where Brewer’s athletes rewrote the record books in the men’s and women’s sprints and hurdles. On the women’s side, conference champion sprinter Charlyn Ray qualified for the 2002 NCAA Championships in the 200-meters. Brewer primed two-time All-American and two-time conference champion David Payne in the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Payne went on to run a personal record of 13.42, automatically qualifying for the 2004 Olympic Trials. Payne was a key component of the Cincinnati’s men’s team that won the C-USA Championship in 2004.
Brewer graduated from Arkansas with her bachelor’s degree in communications in 1998. A three-time captain, Brewer was the 1998 SEC runner up in the 100-meter hurdles, an All-American in the 60-meter dash, and multiple SEC scorer and NCAA qualifier in the sprints and hurdles. Brewer went on to earn her master’s degree in counselor education from Arkansas in 2001.
Brewer currently resides in Millvale and has two children, Asjah and Isaiah.
