MUSICAL COACHING CHAIRS: Pat Henry retired as head coach of Texas A&M… Then Leroy Burrell left his Auburn job to accept the A&M position… Now former assistant Ken Harnden (a World-Ranked 400Her) has been named Auburn’s head…
At Wisconsin, noted alum Chris Solinsky, the former 10K AR holder, has been tapped to replace retiring Mick Byrne…
George Watts has retired as director at East Tennessee after 14 years (and 26 at Tennessee). He will continue as part-time distance coach…
Arizona State has dismissed coach Dion Miller after 7 years and embarked on a national search for a replacement…
Laura Harmon has left Washington State and will be the new women’s XC/distance coach for Iowa State, bringing at least one notable athlete with her in the form of NCAA 1500 champ Rosemary Longisa…
Adam Smith, who had been distance coach at Ole Miss, has been hired to lead the William & Mary program…
Jack Hoyt has left Azusa Pacific after 8 years to take over the head job at Cal State San Marcos…
Athletes at Fordham have started a petition after the school fired longtime coach Brian Horowitz and his entire staff…
Former USC All America Deanna Hill has been hired as the sprint assistant at Oklahoma…
A notable prep coach is stepping down. Doug Soles of Utah’s Herriman High says he will be spending more time with his family. He made the Herriman program a national distance power, with yearly mile/2M leader Jackson Spencer his latest prodigy…
The Brooks Beasts picked up two notable recent collegians in Virginia miler Gary Martin and Arkansas’s 800 CR holder, Sanu Jallow-Lockhart…
USTFCCCA has announced the finalists for its Bowerman Award. For the women it will be Adaejah Hodge of Georgia, Axelina Johansson of Nebraska and Dejenea Oakley of Georgia. The men’s finalists are Samuel Ogazi of Alabama, Habtom Samuel of New Mexico and Ja’Kobe Tharp of Auburn. The winners will be announced at the Convention on December 17…
The Honda Award for track & field went to Axelina Johansson of Nebraska. The Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards will vote on an all-sport winner for the Honda Cup later this year…
It took 14 years, but Alysia Montaño, the original 5th-placer, has been officially upgraded to a bronze medal for the ’12 Olympic 800. The legal proceedings surrounding Yekaterina Guliyev’s doping suspension concluded more than a year ago; it’s unclear why it took WA and the IOC so long to affirm Montaño’s status…
For what it’s worth, Marcell Lamont Jacobs got publicity lately for running what was hailed as the second-fastest 100 ever. One had to look below the headline to find that it was aided by a wind over double the allowable, a 4.1 gust blowing the ’21 Olympic champion to a 9.67 at a meet in Eisenstadt, Austria. His legal best this season is 9.96…
Kibiwot Kandie’s 7-year ban is the standard 4-year sit-down, plus an additional 3 for tampering and providing fake evidence to the AIU. He is the former WR-holder in the half-marathon…
Sprinter-turned-coach Rae Edwards has accepted a 2-year suspension from USADA, for being complicit in the Marvin Bracy-Williams doping case. He got a reduced ban for cooperating with investigators…
Former LSU sprinter Godson Oghenebrume has been sentenced to two years in prison for possession of a firearm while in the U.S. under a student visa. Oghenebrume had fired shots while in an argument with his ex-girlfriend; their baby was present. The Nigerian 23-year-old will be subject to deportation after he completes his sentence…
The day before the NCAA Championships, Hayward Field had to be evacuated because of a reported bomb threat. The premeet press conference was canceled. In the end, police found no credible threat…
A teen has been found guilty of murder for a stabbing that occurred at a Texas HS meet in April ’25. Karmelo Anthony has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing Austin Metcalf, all over an argument about Anthony being under another team’s tent during a rainstorm…
Irish Olympian Ciarán Ó Lionáird died suddenly at age 38 in Vancouver, BC, on June 09. He made the 1500 final at the ’11 WC…
The Nigerian federation has warned LSU coach Dennis Shaver to stop “misleading” Favour Ofili, the latest salvo in the sprinter’s ongoing battle with the federation. The current dispute revolves around whether she will run the national championships for a shot at the Commonwealth Games…
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is expanding its indoor track membership in 1926–27, with the addition of Boise State, Colorado State, Sac State, San Diego State, UCSB, Utah State and Utah Valley…
Kela Noji (Hale, Seattle) won the 100, 200 and 4×1 at the Washington state high school finals. She is the daughter of Rick Noji, who was 8th in the WC high jump in ’91…
Blake Crutsinger, the Texas high school coach who was badly hurt when hit in the head by a shot, has been released from the hospital after two months. Outpatient rehab is planned to help him regain speech…
Italy’s Francesco Pernici has brought down a notable ancient record, running 1:43.60 in Tomblaine, France, to break the Italian Record of 1:43.7 that was a WR for Marcello Fisconaro in ’73…
Russia’s Vladimir Putin approved a measure that will align the nation’s laws with WADA guidelines. Though currently not recognized by the international testing body, the Russian anti-doping agency is pushing for full reinstatement…
India is also making its anti-doping laws tougher, with the government moving to bring organized doping activities under the criminal law umbrella, with the goal of dismantling supply chains by targeting traffickers, suppliers, coaches and support staff…
At its June Council meeting, WA reaffirmed its ban on international competition for Russia and Belarus because of the invasion of Ukraine. This goes against the IOC request to drop the ban on Belarus, and its later readmission of Russia. In recent weeks gymnastics has lifted its restrictions on both countries and skating is allowing them to compete as neutrals…
WA has launched a project to explore pregnancy, childbirth and how elite females return to the sport afterward. Called Childbirth And Return in Elite Sport (CARES), the project aims to generate evidence to inform policy and support women…
Munich is among the cities working hard to secure a World Championships for either ’29 or ’31. WA has already said both meets will be awarded at the same time. The Bavarian state government has approved a budget for the event that runs upward of $137 million…
Oregon reported that 88.5% of NCAA tickets were sold, for a daily attendance average of 9580. But, wrote Rich Perelman in the Sports Examiner, “If you watched the NCAA, you saw loads of empty seats at Hayward Field and whole sections covered with tarpaulins. Continuing scanning of the stands during the meet as shown on ESPN indicated maybe 4000 in the house at any one time, on any of the days… Remarkable. Unexplainable? Optical illusion? What?”…
The IOC has announced that it will make its decision on a host for the ’36 Olympics at its annual session in ’29. Countries that have expressed interest or are already in a dialogue with the IOC (on the ’36, ’40 & ’44 Games): Chile, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, India, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Türkiye…
A marathon in the Netherlands set for June 20 — with 3000 entries — had to be postponed indefinitely after organizers discovered that their emergency health plan had been set up by a man previously convicted of impersonating an ambulance driver…
The Cape Town Marathon has joined an elite club, becoming the eighth World Major Marathon, and the first in Africa. Next year’s event will be staged on May 23…
Rai Benjamin has called out athletes who are afraid to try new things. “I’m going to be controversial, I think there’s a lot of dinosaurs in our sport and they’re not helping progress the sport because they’re afraid to take sensible risks,” he says. “And I think taking a risk and doing something like the Ultimate Championships, I think that’s good.”
