The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Track & Field / Cross Country
- Title:
- Head Coach
Edrick Floréal (ED-rick floor-ee-AL) was named Head Track and Field Coach at The University of Texas on Wednesday, June 13, 2018, after building highly successful programs at Kentucky and Stanford for 12 years prior to his arrival on the Forty Acres.
Floréal entered his seventh season with Texas during the 2024-25 school year and led the Longhorns in its first year in the SEC conference. The indoor season was highlighted by Kelsey Daniel winning the first-ever NCAA indoor long jump title for the men's program with a program record mark of 8.16m (26-9.25). The Longhorns earned eight USTFCCCA Indoor All-America honors with the men finishing 26th (10 pts) and the women 35th (5 pts) before returning to the outdoor season. Texas won its first three SEC titles back in Lexington, Ky., where Nina Ndubuisi won the first-ever SEC title for Texas in the shot put (18.91m/62-0.50). Kendrick Smallwood was the first male SEC Champion, winning the 110mH with a program record time of 13.13 and Akala Garrett was the first female track champion in the 400mH with a time of 54.84. Texas sent 19 student-athletes to Eugene, Ore., for the 2025 NCAA Championships and walked away with 22 USTFCCCA Outdoor All-America honors. Garrett was the top finisher in the 400-meter hurdles finishing as the national runner-up (54.66) and ended the year with eight of the top-10 times in UT history. Nina Ndubuisi and Kody Blackwood also posted third-place finishes in the shot put and 400mH, respectively. Texas ended the season recording seven Texas program records - Men's Outdoor 200m (Xavier Butler - 20.02), 110mH (Kendrick Smallwood - 13.13) 4x100 (Smallwood, Rutledge, Small, Butler - 38.57), Women's Indoor 5000m (Eva Jess - 15:39.51) and Women's Outdoor 10,000m (Eva Jess - 32:50.28), 400mH (Akala Garrett - 53.73) and shot put (Nina Ndubuisi - 18.91m). The Longhorn women finished the season tied for 10th at the NCAA Championships with 25 points, while the men finished 34th with nine.
Prior to his seventh season at Texas, Floréal watched Leo Neugebauer win the third-ever Bowerman Award in Texas history for his incredible season as a multi. Neugebuaer went undefeated the NCAA Championships his senior season, set German National Records, swept the Big 12 Championships in long jump and shattered the decathlon world record in discus with a throw of 57.70m. The nine-time All-American was just the seventh man in world history to surpass 8,900 points in the decathlon after defending his NCAA outdoor title with 8,961 points. He also won his first-ever NCAA heptathlon title with 6,347 points - the fourth-best score in NCAA history.
The 2023-24 season saw the Longhorns post four top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships. The women posted a third-place team finish at the Outdoor Championships with 41 points led by Ackelia Smith who swept the horizontal jumps to score 20 points and earn South Central Region Field Athlete of the Year. Freshman Akala Garrett was fourth in the 400m hurdles and earned First Team All-America honors and posted the second-fastest time in UT history at 54.84 and helped the 4x400 relay finish third with a time of 3:23.68 with Lauren Lewis, Ziyah Holman and Kenondra Davis. Kristine Blazevica earned her final All_america honor as a Longhorn finishing third with 6,126 points. Olivia Howell added the final point with an eighth place finish in the 1500m. The men finished 12th overall with 20 points led by Leo Neugebauer who defended his decathlon title with a NCAA record score of 8,961 points. The men's 4x100 (Moore, Shelvin, Small and Rutledge) finished fifth, the 4x400 of Herron, Popelka, Rutledge and Mosley were sixth and Yusuf Bizimana finished sixth in the 800m.
Indoor season saw the Longhorn women finish 13th with 18 points and the men 19th with 13. Leo Neugebauer won his first NCAA indoor title with a score of 6,347 points - setting a new school record. Brian Herron was seventh in the 400m and Kelsey Daniel finished eighth in the triple jump. The women's 4x400 finished fourth overall with a time of 3:28.91, scored six in the shot put by Nina Ndubuisi and Chrystal Herpin, and had Aaliyah Foster finish eighth in long jump.
Texas closed out the time in the Big 12 sweeping the outdoor championships and the women claiming their final indoor title.
Coach Flo also made history coaching his first-ever Bowerman Award winner in Julien Alfred, claiming track and field's highest honor in 2023. Alfred's historic season came by five NCAA titles, one team title, swept the USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and broke countles NCAA records. Alfred finished her career as a 14-time All-American, broke the NCAA 60m record six times, broke the NCAA indoor 200m record and was the first Big 12 woman to sweep both titles at NCAAs. She later went undefeated in the 100-meter for the second-straight season, becoming just the sixth women to ever defend the NCAA 100m title and was also part of the NCAA record-breaking 4x100 relay. Alfred is the second Longhorn to ever win the award by Courtney Okolo who claimed the award in 2016.
In his fifth year with Texas, Floréal led the Longhorn women to its fifth NCAA Outdoor Track and Field title with a staggering 83 points and first team title in 18 years. Texas claimed five events (100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100 and the long jump) on the way to winning its 14th NCAA Championship. Flo led Julien Alfred to running the all-conditions fastest times in NCAA history in both the 100m (10.72) and the 200m (21.73). He later coached Rhasidat Adeleke to win the 400m title with the second-fastest time in NCAA history at 49.20. The pair were also on the 4x100 team the defended its NCAA title with a time of 41.60 with Kevona Davis and Ezinne Abba. The group broke the collegiate record three times during the 2023 outdoor season (41.55, 41.89 and 42.00). The final champion was Ackelia Smith in the long jump who used her final jump to sore to 6.88m to bring home the win. On the men's side, Leo Neugebauer was crowned the NCAA Decathlon Champion with a performance of a lifetime. Neugebauer scored 8,836 points to break the Germany National Record, the collegiate record, the NCAA Championships record and ranks as the No. 8 performance in world history. Yusuf Bizmana later finished as the NCAA Runner-Up in the 800m. The outdoor season was also accompanied with the fourth-straight Big 12 Outdoor Women's title. Alfred was named Big 12 High Point scorer and indoor and outdoor performer of the year.
The 2022-23 indoor season saw the women finish as the runner-up to Arkansas scoring 60 points, just four behind Arkansas. Julien Alfred completed the sprints double, winning the 60m dash with a NCAA record time of 6.94 and later set the NCAA 200m indoor record at 22.01 seconds. Adeleke was the runner-up in the 400m dash with her time of 50.45, while Valery Tobias was sixth in the 800m. Lanae Tava-Thomas added points from the 200m, Ackelia Smith finished with two top-three performances as the runner-up in the long jump and the third-place finisher in the triple jump. Kristine Blazevica finished fifth in the pentathlon, while the 4x400 relay of Rachel Helbling, Kennedy Simon, Alfred and Adeleke finished as runners-up.
The 2022-23 season saw the Longhorns earning 30 USTFCCCA First Team All-America honors. Julien Alfred swept the USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year awards, while being named a Bowerman Finalist along with Leo Neugebauer. Alfred was also tabbed as the Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year. Neugebauer was named USTFCCCA Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year. Coach Flo was named the Big 12 Outdoor Women's Coach of the Year and the USTFCCCA South Central Women's Outdoor coach of the year.
The 2021-22 season was one for the books in coach Floréal's fourth year at the helm of the Longhorns. The men's indoor track and field program won the first-ever Texas Track and Field NCAA title after scoring 47 points and just 10 male entries. The men championed the DMR and saw three runner-up performances on the way to the title. The women were the NCAA Indoor runner-up and Flo saw 21 of his Longhorns earn First Team All-American Honors. Floréal was named the USTFCCCA Men's Indoor Coach of the Year for his team's impressive performance on the track.
On the way to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, his Longhorns swept all four conference titles and earned himself Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year for the men and the women. Both the men and women finished as the runner up at the Outdoor Championships, while Tripp Piperi earned his second Shot Put NCAA title, Julien Alfred won the 100m dash and the women's 4x100 maintained its dominance all season long bringing back the 1st place trophy after running the four fastest times in school history. The second-place finish for the women was its best finish since 2014. The outdoor championships saw 19 Longhorns earn First Team All-America honors.
The 2022 season concluded with the men's cross country and track and field programs being named the USTFCCCA John McDonnell Program of the Year for a 14th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, a first-place finish indoors and a second-place finish in outdoors.
During a shortened 2019-20 campaign – Floréal’s second season at the helm in Austin – the Longhorns won their third-straight Big 12 Women’s Indoor Track and Field title after scoring a Big 12-record 180.33 points at the conference meet in Ames, Iowa. Floréal’s student-athletes won 14 individual event titles (7 men/7 women) and two women’s relay titles (4x400m, DMR) at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. Julien Alfred (60m, 200m, 4x400m) and Kathryn Gillespie (800m, Mile, DMR) were two of four women who received High Point honors after winning three individual conference titles. Texas earned 15 total entries (7 men/8 women) to the NCAA Indoor Championships, the seventh-most of any school in the country.
In Floréal’s first season at UT, he guided the Longhorns to a pair of top-10 finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (Men – 9th; Women – T-10th). In the year before his arrival, Texas finished 25th and 34th, respectively, between the men’s and women’s teams at Outdoors. It was the largest one-year turnaround for the men’s program since 1998-99 (47th to 6th – 41 spots), and the biggest for the women since 2010-11 (51st to 8th – 43 spots). The Longhorns claimed an individual national title on both sides, with sophomore Tripp Piperi winning the shot put and Ashtin Zamow capture the heptathlon crown. In total, The Longhorns earned 36 All-America honors across Indoor and Outdoor competition in Floréal’s first season at the helm. The Texas Women also swept the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor conference titles in 2019.
A former National Champion, Olympian and veteran of more than 25 years of coaching, Floréal took over at Texas after spending the previous six years transforming the University of Kentucky into one of the premier track and field programs in the country.
When he took over in Lexington, UK was coming off an eighth-place finish by the men and 12th by the women at the SEC Outdoor Championships. The Wildcats also had never earned a team trophy (top four) at the Women's NCAA Outdoor Championships. Floréal changed that and proceeded to lead the women's program to three top-four finishes in his last four years, including a runner-up showing in 2015. He also led the women to a school-best third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2018 and guided the women to eight total top-five finishes at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. On the men's side, UK was 16th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2018 and among the top 22 in the nation six times in indoor and outdoor under Floréal.
In his last season away from the Forty Acres, Kentucky garnered 15 first-team All-America honors during the outdoor season when the women finished fourth and the men were 16th at the NCAA Championships. Four Wildcats won national titles at that meet, including Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (100m hurdles) and freshman Sydney McLaughlin (400m hurdles) becoming the first women's duo in NCAA history to sweep the hurdles events. NCAA Indoor heptathlon champion Tim Duckworth earned UK's first-ever NCAA decathlon title, and Olivia Gruver defended her NCAA Outdoor pole vault championship.
Overall during his tenure, Wildcat athletes won 12 event NCAA Championships, earned 142 All-America honors, 37 Individual SEC Championships and five Academic All-America honors.
Floréal's reputation as a head coach has been building for a number of years. He was named head coach of the United States Men's National Team for the 2015 IAAF World Championships, guiding Team USA to the most medals of any nation at that meet. In addition, he helped Americans capture six medals (two gold) at the 2012 London Olympics as Team USA's jumps and multi-events coach. On the international scene, he had previously served as assistant coach for Team USA at the 2002 IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, which featured the world record-setting men's 4x100m relay team, the first team to run under 39 seconds.
Floréal also event-coached two World Champions in 2017, as Omar McLeod won the 110m hurdles and Kori Carter took the 400m hurdles gold at the IAAF World Championships in London. Keni Harrison then captured gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in the 60m hurdles in Birmingham, England. Under his guidance, Harrison broke the 28-year-old world record in the 100m hurdles (12.20) at the 2016 London Anniversary Games. Harrison is the fastest combination hurdler in history with PRs of 12.20 in the 100m hurdles and 54.09 in the 400m hurdles. Harrison claimed the U.S. titles in the 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles in 2017 and went on to place fourth in the 100m hurdles world final.
In addition, Floréal coached Camacho-Quinn to the SEC 100m hurdles title in 12.69, meaning he coached the two fastest women in the history of that event at the SEC Championships, as Harrison ran 12.50 in 2015. In 2016, Camacho-Quinn became the first freshman to win the NCAA 100m hurdles title, giving Kentucky the NCAA Champion in that event for the second straight year, as Harrison won the previous year.
Known also as a horizontal jumps expert, Floréal helped Sha'Keela Saunders to UK's first women's NCAA Indoor Long Jump title in 2017, four NCAA silver medals in the long jump, plus an NCAA bronze medal. Along with those, she brought home the 2015 and 2017 SEC Indoor Long Jump Championship, and medals for Team USA at the 2015 Pan American Games and NACAC Championships. Saunders placed fourth at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials as a collegiate junior, coming inches short of a spot on the U.S. team headed to Rio. She broke through in the summer of 2017, making her first U.S. team for a major global championship – the World Championships in London – by virtue of her bronze at the U.S. Trials in Sacramento.
Floréal, who in 2012 had become the first new track and field head coach in 28 years for the Wildcats, had previously been an assistant at Kentucky during the 1996-98 seasons. He moved to the Stanford track and field program in 1998 and spent 14 seasons there with the last six (Fall 2005-Spring 2012) as head coach.
In those six years as head coach in Palo Alto, Calif., he led the Cardinal men and women to a combined seven top-10 NCAA finishes during the outdoor season and another seven indoors. In addition to the team accomplishments on the track, Floréal oversaw a cross country program that was among the nation's elite. The Cardinal women won three NCAA titles under his watch, while the men placed in the top five in three of his last four seasons.
A four-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year (Stanford competed in the MPSF during the indoor season), the 2009 West Regional Indoor Coach of the Year and the 2006 West Regional Outdoor Coach of the Year, Floréal developed the Stanford sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers into Pac-12 and NCAA Championship contenders. Under his watch, 91 Stanford student-athletes earned 197 All-America honors.
The Cardinal program had tremendous success in Floréal's final two years there. In 2012, the Stanford women tallied a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, including one individual National Championship in the pole vault, and a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The men's squad finished 11th in the NCAA Indoors and 18th at the NCAA Outdoors, including an individual championship in the 400-meter hurdles. In 2011, Floréal led Stanford to a pair of national top-15 finishes. The Cardinal men placed eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, while the women were 14th. The season was highlighted by 10 athletes earning 15 All-America honors.
2009 also was a standout year as Floréal led the Stanford women to an MPSF title and the men to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Twelve athletes earned 17 All-America honors during the season. Floréal was named MPSF and West Regional Coach of the Year on the women's side as four individuals won MPSF titles. During the outdoor season, Flore´al led six male athletes to All-America honors, the most during his tenure overseeing both programs. At the Pac-10 Championships, the Stanford women finished second, while the men finished third. It was the 10th consecutive top-three finish for the women and the highest finish for the Stanford men under Floréal.
Stanford track and field was well represented in the classroom as well, with several of his student-athletes receiving Academic All-America and Pac-12 All-Academic team honors. In 2011, the 12 men named All-Academic by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association were tops in the nation. In 2008, the Stanford men were named the Academic Team of the Year for the indoor season.
Prior to his arrival at Stanford, Floréal produced 13 All-Americans in three seasons as an assistant coach at Kentucky. In total, the UK men's team picked up 16 All-America sprints/hurdles/horizontal jumps honors, and the Wildcat women tallied 11 All-America accolades during Floréal's tenure. He also enjoyed successful assistant coaching stints at Georgia Tech and Nebraska, where he began his coaching career.
Floréal graduated from Arkansas in 1990. During his career as a student-athlete for the Razorbacks, he was the NCAA's premier triple jumper. A five-time national champion, sweeping the indoor and outdoor triple jump titles in 1989 and 1990, he won his first NCAA title in 1988. Floréal was a nine-time All-American at Arkansas and was part of four NCAA team championships. He also won six Southwest Conference titles with five victories in the triple jump and an indoor long jump crown in 1990.
Floréal helped the Razorbacks to seven SWC team titles. He remains the No. 3 performer in the triple jump, indoor and outdoor, in school history and was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2012 and the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame in 2017. He competed for Canada at the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympic Games in the triple jump and was the 1990 Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist in the triple jump.
Floréal is married to LaVonna Martin-Floréal, also a two-time track and field Olympian (1988 & 1992). A University of Tennessee standout who won three NCAA titles (55-meter hurdles indoors, 1987 & 1988 / 100-meter hurdles, 1987), Martin-Floréal was the 1992 Olympic silver medalist in the 100m hurdles for Team USA. The couple has two children, Edrick Jr. and Mikaielle.
