Matt Chisam returns for his fifth season with the Harvard Track and Field program in 2010-11. Chisam works primarily with the sprinters and serves as the primary hurdles, pole vault and decathlon coach.

Chisam coached two Heptagonal Champions in 2009 in Dara Wilson ’09 and Justin Grinstead ’10. Wilson won the 60 meter hurdles at the Indoor Heps, while Grinstead was victorious in the 400 meter hurdles at the Outdoor Heps. Wilson moved into third all-time at Harvard in the 60 hurdles and fifth all-time in the 100 meter hurdles, while Grinstead's winning time of 52.16 seconds moved him into fifth on the all-time 400 meter list. Grinstead defended his title at the 2010 Outdoor Heps, running a time of 52.19.

In 2008, both hurdlers had breakthrough season’s running personal bests in their hurdle events working with Chisam. Wilson added her name to the Crimson top-10 list in both the 60 and 100 meters, while Grinstead entered his name in the Harvard record book in the 110 hurdles with his time of 52.49 that placed him third at the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships.

Chisam came to Harvard from the San Francisco Bay Area where for the last year he was training as a full-time decathlete and had served as an assistant coach with the Alhambra High School track and field team.

While a student-athlete at the University of California, Davis, Chisam won multiple California Collegiate Athletic Association conference championships in both the 110m high hurdles and the decathlon. In 2003, Chisam was the NCAA Division-II runner-up in the decathlon earning All-America status. Chisam resides on the top-10 lists at UC Davis in four events including on the top of the chart in the heptathlon. He won conference championships in both the hurdles and multis. After UC Davis began its transition to Division-I in 2004, Chisam, a team captain, won the high hurdles and scored a total of 34 points in UCD's inaugural entry at the Independent National Championships.

Other coaching experience includes two years running the Saint Francis High School Strength and Conditioning camp in Mt. View, Calif. and a years worth of experience as a coach at the New England Pole Vault Summer Camp. Chisam comes from a legacy of collegiate track coaches through parents Scott and Roberta who, as coaches, lead the UCLA women's track team to both 1982 and 1983 outdoor track and field championships. Scott later went on to coach at Stanford University, but both parents have retired from the collegiate level and now coach at SF Bay Area high schools.

Chisam graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a B.S. in optical science and engineering. He continues to compete in the multi events. He finished 15th in the decathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July 2008.