Former two-sport UCLA letter-winner Avery Anderson was named Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, UCLA announced Thursday.

Anderson, a former decathlete and wide receiver, replaces Mike Maynard, who resigned in May after eight years.

“I am thrilled to be returning to UCLA,” Anderson said in a statement. “To oversee track & field and cross country at the school that gave me so much as a student-athlete is a dream come true. I feel privileged to be entrusted with a program with as storied a history as UCLA’s, and I have a vision of making it the best program in the country.”

Anderson returns to UCLA after 13 years at Cal State Northridge, where he was Director of Track & Field and Cross Country since 2011. Prior to CSUN, Anderson was a volunteer assistant at Kansas State from 2002-04 and UCLA from 2001-02.

As a Bruin athlete, Anderson helped the 4×100 relay team to a runner-up finish at the NCAA championships in 1996 as the Bruins also won four Pac-10 team titles. On the football field, he played in the 1994 Rose Bowl and went on to a short NFL career for the Indianpolis Colts before a back injury forced him to return to track as a decathlete.