Sparks joined the King staff in 2014 with more than 35 years of experience in cycling, and has led the Tornado cycling program to new heights. He coached King's first individual national champion in 2015 and followed that with a pair of team national championships in 2015-16. He has guided the Tornado to three mountain bike conference championships, including consecutive titles in 2019 and 2021.
Athlete Honors
- 4 USA Cycling individual national champions (Jennifer Caicedo, Cory Rimmer, Kaysee Armstrong, Fausto Crapiz)
- 1 USA Cycling relay national championship (Cory Rimmer, Emily Cox, Kyle Ellis, Kaysee Armstrong)
- 6 women ACCC mountain bike omnium titles
- 2 men ACCC mountain bike omnium titles
King Highlights
- 2015 USA Cycling Mountain Bike national champions
- 2015-16 USA Cycling Cyclocross national champions
- USA Cycling College Mountain Bike national runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2018
- 2 Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference (ACCC) Mountain Bike champions (2019, 2021)
- Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (SECCC) mountain bike champions in 2015
Year-By-Year Season Recaps
2021-22:Â The Tornado won their second Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference title, with five individuals accounting for seven conference titles. Kiley Krasley won both the category A crowns in gravity and endurance while Derek Maiden won the category A gravity title. Jeremy Boaz won hte category B endurance and category C gravity championships while Caleb New won the category C endurance title and Jesse Stidham won the category B gravity crown.
2020-21:Â The 2020-21 season was canceled by USA Cycling, but the Tornado still competed in five races throughout the season.
2019-20: King had a solid first year in the Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference (ACCC) winning the mountain bike conference title. Along with the seven conference individual omnium titles, the Tornado took eight other omnium podium finishes in the fall. King did not race cyclocross and competed in one road race before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic on March 12.
2018-19: King started with a runner-up finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships before taking ninth at the cyclocross national championships. The season concluded with a fifth place finish at the road national championships in May.
2017-18: The Tornado got the fall off to a good start with a runner-up at the USA Cycling Division II Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships. In the spring, King added another individual national champion, Fausto Crapiz in the individual time trial USA Cycling Division II Collegiate Road National Championships.
2016-17:Â A banner year for Sparks and the cycling team as he led the Tornado to pair of third place finishes at the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championships. King started with a third place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships in the fall and followed that with a third place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships in the spring.
2015-16: The season started with a Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference championship during the mountain bike season, King's first mountain bike conference title. Sparks then led King to the USA Cycling Mountain Bike national championship, the first cycling national title in program history in any discipline. At the event, Kaysee Armstrong and Cory Rimmer both took home individual omninum national championships as well as national titles in the short track and cross country races. Sparks kept the successful year going, winning a second national title in January at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships. The team relay quartet of Cory Rimmer, Emily Cox, Kyle Ellis and Kaysee Armstrong also took home a national title at the event. In the spring, Jennifer Caicedo repeated as a national champion in the road race at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, giving King eight individual national champions on the year.
2014-15: In his first year at the helm, Sparks led King to a very successful season, including their first individual national champion. In the fall, King finished fourth at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals, and followed that with a third place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals in January. The success didn't stop there as he helped Jennifer Caicedo take home King's first cycling national champion honors when she won the road race at the USA Cycling Road Nationals in May.
Prior To King
Sparks served as the president and coach of the East Tennessee State University Cycling Club. In just five years leading the ETSU cycling program, it grew exponentially under his guidance.
Under Sparks' leadership, ETSU has placed a rider on the podium at the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championpionships in four of his final five years. Sparks is a certified PMBIA Professional Mountain Bike Instructor and USA Cycling (USAC) certified coach and has experience as a competitive rider in mountain bike, road, cyclocross, and BMX disciplines.
He has experience in all disciplines, and riders under his tutelage have had great success in recent years at USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals. Sparks has more than 35 years of experience in BMX and 23 years of mountain biking experience. He has been competing or coaching road cycling for 13 years and has five years of experience in cyclocross.
