University of West Alabama

Daniel Poole enters his fifth season as head coach of the men's and women's rodeo team, and he is in his ninth season with the program as a coach after riding for West Alabama in the late 2000s. 

In his time on the coaching staff at UWA, he has been a part of two region championships and the 2023 national championship on the women's side and has seen three individualists named national champions. 

Former Tiger bull rider Daniel Poole was named head rodeo coach at his alma mater in August of 2019 after returning to UWA to serve as an assistant to head coach Alex Caudle in August 2015.

The 2023 season saw eight of their 10 shows where the Tigers finished on top. That led UWA to its second straight Ozark Region Championship for the women's team and back-to-back appearances at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR). Scoring 698.3 points and posting a 100-point margin of victory over Montana State, the UWA women's team won its first national championship and the second in UWA history, joining the 1971 football team. 

The women's team was inducted into the UWA Athletics Hall of Fame later that fall. 

Along with the team championship, Taycie Matthews won the barrel racing and JT Ellison took home the steer wrestling individual championships. 

In 2022, Poole led the Tigers' Women Wranglers to the Ozark Region Championship since 2006. 

From Emelle, Alabama, he lettered with the West Alabama rodeo team from 2006-09, where he served as the Bull Riding Director for the Ozark Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association his senior year.
 
Poole was a two-time Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Southeastern Circuit Finals Qualifier, a National Bull Riders Finals Qualifier, a six-time Professional Cowboys Association Qualifier and a two-time Southeastern Professional Rodeo Qualifier. He is also a three-time Southeastern Professional Rodeo Qualifier and 2019 Southeastern Professional Rodeo Champion Bull Rider.

Poole is a member of the board for the Sumter County Cattleman's Association and the Alfa Farmer's Federation and a member of the Sumter County Young Farmer's Federation. He has also worked as manager of Covey Run Lodge and taught horseback riding lessons and guided horseback rides and backcountry pack trips for Spotted Horse Ranch in Jackson, Wyoming.
 
He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Technology with an emphasis on management from UWA in 2009 after being a Dean’s List student. Poole is also a certified equine flexion therapist and is certified as a wilderness first responder, in CPR and first aid.

Updated 2/6/24