Men's Track & Field
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Phone:
- 647-8999
Jerry Clayton recently completed his third season as the head coach of the combined-gender University of Michigan track and field program (a role he shares with James Henry), and his seventh season as a head coach at Michigan after leading the men's program for four years. Additionally, he oversees a Wolverine throws corps that has produced All-Americans in each of his seven seasons in Ann Arbor. A Big Ten alum and Midwest native, Clayton took over the Wolverine program for the 2014 season after spending the previous 15 seasons at Auburn University.
Clayton by the Numbers
• Has coached 2 World champions
• Has coached 2 Olympic Medalists (Silver, Bronze)
• Has coached athletes in each of the last four Olympic Games and six World Championships
• Michigan athletes have broken school records in 10 events during his tenure, including 2 record-holding relays and seven record-holders in his event groups
• Has coached 16 individual NCAA Champions
• Has coached 105 All-Americans and four All-American relay teams
• Has coached 118 conference champions, including many in the Big Ten and SEC
• Has All-Americans in 7 of 9 Field Event groups
• NCAA Great Lakes Region Outdoor Head Coach of the Year (2016)
• Has coached 96 NCAA Regional qualifying entries at Michigan, including a program-record 20 in 2016
AT MICHIGAN
• In a 2020 season cut short by the novel coronavirus COVID-19 global pandemic, Clayton oversaw a combined-gender program that totaled two individual All-Americans, an All-America relay team, two individual Big Ten champions and a conference-winning relay team. In his men's program, Andrew Liskowitz was the standout, finishing the shortened indoor season as the national leader in the shot put, an event in which he also won the Big Ten title and broke the school record. He was joined as an All-American -- an honor given to all NCAA Championships qualifiers after the meet was cancelled -- by weight thrower Manning Plater. Plater was the bronze medalist in his event at Big Tens.
• In 2019, guided throwers Andrew Liskowitz and Joe Ellis to a combined four All-America honors. Liskowitz had a particularly impressive season, breaking the indoor and outdoor shot put school records en route to an indoor Big Ten title and All-America honors indoors (second team) and outdoors (first team). He would go on to earn silver at the World University Games and finish 12th at the USATF Championships, and meet the qualifying standard for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials. Ellis closed out his career at Michigan with First-Team All-America honors in the weight throw indoors and the hammer throw outdoors, and an indoor Big Ten weight throw crown.
• In 2019, Clayton oversaw a combined men's and women's program that produced six First-Team All-America awards (five individual, one team) and an additional three Second-Team All-America honors (two individuals, one team). Liskowitz and Ellis earned Big Ten titles for the men with Aurora Rynda and Hannah Meier winning indoor titles for the women. Jack Lint (decathlon), Taylor McLaughlin (400-meter hurdles), Jessica Mercier (pole vault) and the women's distance medley relay all earned runner-up finishes in the conference.
• In 2018, helped lead a Michigan men's track & field and cross country program that was the only school in the Big Ten to score at the NCAA Championships in cross country, outdoor track & field and indoor track & field. Michigan was also the only team in the conference to finish top-six in the Big Ten Championships in all three sports. Under his direction, the U-M men's track and field team produced a national champion in Ben Flanagan (10,000 meters), seven All-America honors, eight NCAA Championships qualifiers, and four Big Ten champions.
• In 2018, he personally coached Joe Ellis to school records in the indoor weight throw (23.64m/) and outdoor hammer throw (73.80m/), and Andrew Liskowitz to a school record in the outdoor shot put (20.28m/). Ellis combined with Grant Cartwright in the weight throw to become the No. 2 duo in collegiate history in terms of combined marks at a single meet. Ellis earned First-Team All-America honors in the weight throw, Liskowitz earned Second-Team honors in the shot put both indoors and out, and Cartwright was a Second-Team All-American shot putter outdoors.
• In 2018, saw pupil Cartwright finish his career as one of only two men in collegiate history to have surpassed 23.00m in the weight throw, 68.00m in the hammer throw, 58.00m in the discus, and 19.50m in the shot put.
• The 2017 season saw continued growth for the program under Clayton, with particular success for his student-athletes at the individual level. The Wolverines earned seven All-America awards between the indoor and outdoor seasons, led by a national runner-up honor for weight thrower Cartwright and two first-team awards for Ellis. At the team level, his men tied for 22nd at the NCAA Indoor Championships, tied for 41st at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, tied for seventh at the Big Ten Indoor Championships and tied for eighth at Big Ten Outdoors.
• In 2017, his throws pupils Cartwright and Ellis, as well as decathlete Steven Bastien, made history and made waves at the national level. Both Cartwright and Ellis broke the indoor school record for the weight throw multiple times, with the two ultimately finishing first and second at the Big Ten Championships and second and seventh at the NCAA Championships, respectively. Cartwright's runner-up finish was the best in school history for the weight throw, and the best in any men's throwing event since 1957. Outdoors, Cartwright was one of the best all-around throwers in the nation, one of only a handful of men to finish the season ranked top-50 in the shot put, discus and hammer throw.
• In 2017, Cartwright advanced to NCAAs in the shot put (with teammate Andrew Liskowitz) and scored in all three events at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Ellis would follow up with an eighth-place hammer throw finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the first top-eight finish for Michigan in the event since 1933 after winning Michigan's first Big Ten title in the event since 1930. Bastien took fourth in the NCAA Outdoor decathlon with a school-record 8,015 points for the best finish in the event in school history.
• The 2016 season was the best of the Clayton Era from a team perspective. U-M finished tied for 13th in the nation outdoors, the program's second top-15 finish in the last 55 years and the first since 1997. Five athletes earned All-American citations, including a national steeplechase champion in Mason Ferlic and the program's first-ever decathlon All-American, Steven Bastien, who re-broke his own program record. Michigan was second at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with 90.5 points -- both program-highs since the 2008 season -- and placed fourth at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, just two points shy of a runner-up placing. Michigan's 20 athletes sent to the NCAA East Preliminary Round marked a program-best.
• In 2016 at the outdoor championships, U-M was the only program to score in every field event except the long jump, totaling five all-conference honorees in all (three first-team). At the indoor meet the Wolverines captured two conference titles and broke school records in three events. Under his guidance, Bastien would go on to earn First-Team All-America honors in the heptathlon, an honor the distance medley relay team also earned.
• In 2015, U-M featured a pair of individual conference champions and a fifth-place finish at the Indoor Big Ten Championships. Clayton guided two Wolverines to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Derek Sievers, who set the indoor shot put record early in the 2015 season, earned All-America second team honors by finishing 11th. Clayton also helped U-M to its first-ever All-American in the heptathlon, guiding Bastien to an eighth-place finish and the new U-M indoor program record.
• In the spring of 2015, Clayton helped direct 10 Wolverine athletes to the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, including a pair of throwers in Sievers and fifth-year senior co-captain Cody Riffle, who went on to earn USTFCCCA Honorable Mention recognition at the NCAA Championships. Sievers and Riffle also set the indoor and outdoor program records in the shot put, respectively, during the 2015 season.
• In his first season at U-M in 2014, he guided fifth-year senior Bradley James to the Big Ten outdoor high jump title and helped 13 student-athletes advance to the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, including eight field event athletes. Under Clayton's direction, Derek Sievers qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the shot put, where he earned All-America second team honors. In his event areas, eight Wolverines moved into Michigan's all-time top 10 performance list during the 2014 indoor and outdoor seasons, including Cody Riffle, who set a new school record in the outdoor shot put.
BEFORE MICHIGAN
One of the nation's top field event coaches, Clayton has successfully developed individualized training programs for the sprints, hurdles and the field events. His work has produced 16 NCAA individual champions, 39 international team competitors, 24 qualifiers for the U.S. Olympic Trials and 33 participants in Olympic Games and World Championship competition.
Clayton has coached 88 NCAA All-American student-athletes. He has had 158 athletes qualify for the NCAA Track and Field Championships and 114 individual conference champions. In addition, Clayton has coached athletes that won individual NCAA titles in seven of the nine field events, with competitors receiving All-America accolades in each field event.
During Clayton's 15 seasons at Auburn (1998-2013), the Tigers won the 2006 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field championship. He helped Auburn to 18 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Track and Field Championships (indoor and outdoor), including 10 top-five finishes. Clayton personally coached 10 NCAA national champions, had his student-athletes earn 51 All-America honors and 34 SEC individual titles. He had 79 performers qualify for the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
Clayton spent three seasons (1995-98) as the University of Florida's field event coach prior to joining the Auburn staff. During his tenure, Clayton helped the Gators produce 13 qualifiers for the NCAA Track and Field Championships, receiving eight All-America honors, three individual SEC champions and 10 All-SEC honors. He helped the Gators program to one top-10 finish at the NCAA Track and Field Championships and four top-three finishes at the SEC Championship.
Prior to joining the Florida staff in 1995, Clayton was the head men's and women's track and field coach at Southwest Texas State for six seasons (1989-94). He led the Bobcats to a combined four Southland Conference championships, including the first men's outdoor SLC title in program history during the 1993 season. Clayton led the men's team to a program-best seventh place finish at the 1990 NCAA Outdoor Championships and the women's team placed 13th at the 1994 NCAA Outdoor Championships. He was named the 1991 Region VI Coach of the Year and the Southland Conference Coach of the Year on four occasions.
Clayton was an assistant men's track and field coach at his alma mater, the University of Illinois, for nine seasons (1980-89) before accepting the Southwest Texas State position. He helped the Illini to seven Big Ten track and field titles and three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships. This includes a runner-up performance at the 1988 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Clayton is a native of Rushville, Ill. He graduated from Illinois in 1980 with a bachelor of sciences degree in physical education. Clayton was a two-time NCAA qualifier in the shot put.
Clayton and his wife, Becky, a former three-time All-American long jumper at the University of Illinois, have two sons: Zach and Nick. Zach played on Auburn's 2010 national championship team, while Nick is a 2013 graduate of the Air Force Academy and has been selected into the pilot's program.
Career Résumé
| Years | School | Position |
| 1981-89 | Illinois | Men's Assistant Coach |
| 1990-94 | Southwest Texas State | Head Coach |
| 1995-98 | Florida | Assistant Coach |
| 1999-2013 | Auburn | Assistant Coach |
| 2014-17 | Michigan | Men's Head Coach |
| 2018-Present | Michigan | Head Coach (combined program) |
