The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Track & Field / Cross Country
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Sprints, Hurdles and Jumps)
- Email:
- rmorgan@athletics.utexas.edu
Texas Track & Field head coach Edrick Floréal announced the addition of Ricky Morgan Jr. to his coaching staff on Monday, Nov. 11, 2019. Morgan Jr., who assists with sprints, hurdles and jumps, spent the year prior to his arrival in Austin as a volunteer coach at USC.
Morgan helped guide the Longhorns to a standout 2025-26 campaign that featured multiple All-America performances, conference champions and program records. During the indoor season, Kelsey Daniel earned NCAA bronze in the triple jump with a career-best mark of 16.68 meters (54-8.75), moving to fourth on Texas' all-time performers list. Kendrick Smallwood placed fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 7.50 after lowering the Texas school record to 7.46 during the season. He finished his season owning the eight fastest performances and 10 of the top 11 times in program history. Freshman Elise Cooper also earned First Team All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the 200 meters (22.91). Outdoors, Morgan helped Smallwood earn NCAA silver in the 110-meter hurdles with a school-record 12.95, the third-fastest time in NCAA history, making him the second-fastest performer in collegiate history, and also coached SEC champion Kody Blackwood in the 400-meter hurdles. Under Morgan's guidance, Amelliah Birdow also earned NCAA silver in the 400-meter hurdles while breaking the Texas school record with a time of 53.60. The Longhorns added First Team All-America honors from Kelsey Daniel and Jeanne Le Goff in the triple jump and the women's 4x100-meter relay of Carleta Bernard, Holly Okuku, Abigail Wolfe and Naomi London.
In the 2025-26 campaign saw multiple Texas records fall. During the indoor season, Kelsey Daniel won bronze at the NCAA Championships with a career-best mark of 16.68 meters (54-8.75). Entering his sixth and final attempt in eighth place, Daniel surged into the bronze-medal position with the leap, which moved him to fourth on Texas' all-time performers list and ranks as the fourth-best performance in program history. Kendrick Smallwood placed fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 7.50, finishing the season as teh program record holder (7.46) and holding the eight fastest times in Texas history in the event and 10 of the top 11. Freshman Elise Cooper placed seventh in the women's 200 meters, crossing the line in 22.91.
In the outdoor season, Smallwood ran the first sub-13.00 110mH in program history, running 12.95 at the NCAA Championships to become the second-fastest in the event in NCAA history. Amelliah Birdow also registered a runner-up result, placing second in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships, setting a program record of 53.60. Jeanne Le Goff earned outdoor All-America honors in the women's triple jump, securing first-team status after placing eighth with a wind-legal PB of 13.38m (43-10.75) that moved her to fourth on the UT all-time performer list. Daniel also earned First Team All-America recognition in the men's triple jump, placing seventh with a mark of 16.44 meters (53-11.25) on his final attempt of the competition. The quartet of Carleta Bernard, Holly Okuku, Abigail Wolfe and Naomi London combined to run a season-best 42.92 in the 4x100m relay to place seventh.
At the conference meet, Kody Blackwood won the the men's 400-meter hurdles title in a personal-best 48.26. His time tied the SEC Championship meet record, set a new facility record and moved him to No. 2 on the Texas all-time performer list with the third-fastest performance in school history.
The 2024-25 season concluded with the Longhorns earning 30 USTFCCA All-Americans from both the indoor and outdoor season. Morgan and company saw Kelsey Daniel win the first men's NCAA Indoor long jump title in Texas history, was part of the first SEC individual champions (3) and coached the women to a top-10 finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He coached the Xavier Butler to run the 200-meter program record (20.02), the men's 4x100 program record (38.57), Kendrick Smallwood set the 110-meter hurdle record twice (13.13) and saw Akala Garrett break the 400-meter hurdles record (53.73).
In his fourth season with Texas, the Longhorns posted four top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships during the 2023-24 season. Morgan coached alongside Coach Flo to lead Ackelia Smith in sweeping the outdoor horizontal jumps, saw Leo Neugebauer sweep the multis (heptahtlon/decathlon) and helped UT sweep the final Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
The 2022-23 season was one for the books for Texas with the women claiming the NCAA Outdoor title with a staggering 83 points and first team title in 18 years. The sprinters claimed four events led by Julien Alfred sweeping the 100m and 200m, the 4x100 defending its title and Rhasidat Adeleke upsetting the field in the 400m dash. Coach Morgan also helped lead Ackelia Smith to her first NCAA long jump title. Morgan helped Alfred run two of the fastest all-condition times in both the 100m (10.72) and the 200m (21.73) and coached the 4x100 to three collegiate record times (41.55, 41.89, 42.00). He also helped Leo Nuegebauer win his first decathlon title at home ith 8,836 points and saw Yusuf Bizimana finish as the runner-up in the 800m. The women were the NCAA runner-up indoor falling to Arkansas by four points and were again led by Alfred winning the sprints double, including an NCAA record time of 6.94 in the 60m. Adeleke was the runner-up in the 400m. Morgan helped Texas earn 30 First Team All-America honors that season and saw Julien Alfred sweep the USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year awards.
During the 2021-22 season, he helped coach the men's program to earn the USTFCCCA John McDonnell Program of the Year after a season highlighted by the men winning its first NCAA Title in school history, winning the indoor championships scoring 47 points from 10 male athletes. The men championed the DMR and saw three runner-up performances. The women finished as the runner-up in both the Indoor and Outdoor Championships and the men added a runner-up performance. The Longhorns also swept all four Big 12 Championships that season.
During his first season at UT, Morgan Jr. helped his student-athletes win 10 Big 12 Indoor event titles, highlighted by sophomore sprinter Julien Alfred becoming the first Longhorn to win three conference titles indoors (60m, 200m, 4x400m) since Marshevet Hooker in 2006. Alfred is also the first Big 12 woman to win the Big 12 sprint double (60m, 200m) indoors since Hooker in 2006. On the men’s side, three Longhorn sprinters – John Burt (60mH), Micaiah Harris (200m) and Jonathan Jones (400m) – all qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and won the Big 12 title in their respective events.
Prior to being one of USC’s volunteer coaches, Morgan Jr. was a four-year standout sprinter for the Trojans. Throughout his collegiate career (2015-18) he was part of the Trojans’ NCAA outdoor champion and collegiate record-setting 4x400-meter relay team, which ran 2:59.00 on June 8, 2018. The relay team, which also featured Michael Norman, Rai Benjamin and Zach Shinnick, also set the collegiate indoor record and won the NCAA indoor title with a time of 3:00.77. At the time, it was also the fastest men’s indoor 4x400-meter relay ever, but it was not recognized by the IAAF.
Morgan Jr. finished in the top five in the Pac-12 400-meter dash all four years and also scored in the conference meet in the 200 meters, 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays. Morgan Jr. earned individual All-America honors in the 400-meter dash, placing seventh with a time of 46.63 in 2016. His PR of 45.44 ranks just outside of USC’s all-time top-10 marks in the event.
Morgan Jr. graduated from Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, Va., in 2014. As a senior, he placed fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 46.71 at the USATF Junior Championships. That time was the fourth-fastest by a high school senior and seventh-fastest overall by a high school runner in 2014. He ran the third leg for Team USA’s winning 4x400-meter relay, which clocked a time of 3:03.31, to grab the gold medal at the IAAF World Youth Championships. Morgan Jr. was also an honor roll student all four years of his high school career.
He earned his degree in social psychology from USC.
