Ernest Tche is entering his first season as head coach of the Jackson State University men's track and field team.

Tche comes to Jackson State from South Carolina State University where he served as the men's and women's track and field head coach. Under Tche's guidance from 1997 to 2007, South Carolina State won a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's Indoor Championship in 2002, 47 MEAC championship events, had 33 NCAA Regional qualifiers, and produced 13 All-Americans (including Emma Wade and Lamin Drammeh). Wade competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and Drammeh participated in the 2000 Olympics.

Before his tenure at South Carolina State, Tche served as assistant track and head women's volleyball coach at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass from 1993-97. From 1991-93, he was the assistant men's track coach for Western Oregon University.

Tche's track and field experience also includes a professional career. From 1982-89 he competed professionally in the 200 meters, 400 meters, long jump and triple jump. He coached and ran for the Sonel Track Club (Cameroon, Africa) from 1984-89. He also was a three-time African champion in the long jump, triple jump and was a member of Cameroon's 4 x 100 meter relay and 4 x 400 meter relay teams.

Tche represented Cameroon in the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. During the '84 Olympics, in Los Angeles, Calif., he competed in the long jump and triple jump and was a member of the 4 x 400 meter and 4 x 100 meter relay teams. He advanced to the finals in the triple jump and the 4 x 400 team made it to the semi-finals. In the '88 Olympics, held in Seoul, Korea, Tche competed in the 4 x 100, 4 x 400 and the 400 meter run. His Cameroon 4 x 400 meter team advanced to the semi-finals and he made it to the quarter-finals in the 400 meters. In addition to participating in the Olympics, he also competed in the 1983 and 1987 world championship.

Tche earned a bachelor of arts degree in sports science from Western Oregon in 1993. Tche and his wife, Edith, are the proud parents of three children, a daughter named LeTicia and two sons, Jhyslein and Yann. His mother, Marie Octavie, currently resides in Cameroon.