Texas Hires Edrick Floréal As Head Coach

By Adam Kopet

Texas announced Wednesday it has hired Kentucky's Edrick Floréal as the new head coach of the track and field program.

Floréal turned Kentucky into an NCAA Division 1 Championships contender in his six years at the helm of the Wildcat program. During his tenure in Lexington, he coached the likes of Keni Harrison, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and Sydney McLaughlin.

As an athlete, Floréal was a five-time NCAA champion for Arkansas and he represented Canada in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics in the triple jump.

Prior to joining the Kentucky program, Floréal coached for 14 years at Stanford, where he spent 2006 to 2012 as the program's head coach. He also has twice acted as a national coach for Team USA/USATF. Floréal was the jumps and multi-events coach at the 2012 Olympics. He was the head coach at the 2015 IAAF World Outdoor Championships.

Before joining the Stanford program in 1998, Floréal was an assistant coach at Kentucky for three seasons.

In addition to coaching top NCAA athletes, Floréal works with a group of professional hurdlers, including world champions Omar McLeod and Kori Carter. He also continues to coach Keni Harrison, the world record holder in the 100-meter hurdles and IAAF World Indoor champion over the 60-meter hurdles.

The Texas head coaching position became available Mario Sategna left the program in February, as previously reported. He had previously taken a leave of absence in the fall of 2016. Tonja Buford-Bailey served an interim coach during the 2017 indoor and outdoor seasons.