U-M Combines Men's and Women's Track and Field Programs
8/31/2017 6:00:00 PM | General, Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With a new era of University of Michigan track and field on the horizon as its state-of-the-art facility is set to open this winter, Michigan Athletics announced Thursday evening (Aug. 31) the formation of a single combined track and field program encompassing both the men's and women's teams to lead the Wolverines into this next chapter of their long, storied history.
Beginning with the upcoming 2017-18 season James Henry and Jerry Clayton will serve as co-head coaches over the single program. Henry had previously helmed the women's program, with Clayton at the head of the men's squad.
"Coach Henry and Coach Clayton are phenomenal educators, and I am confident that they will continue to raise the national profile of Michigan track and field as leaders of this newly combined program," Michigan's Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics Warde Manuel said. "Speaking as both an athletic director and an alum of Michigan track and field, this truly is an exciting time for the sport here in Ann Arbor, especially as we open the doors to our world-class complex later this year."
The programs were combined to further improve Michigan track and field's strong national profile -- which includes a 1923 national team title, eight top-four NCAA Championships team finishes, 56 national event titles, 417 All-America honors and 73 Big Ten team titles to date between the two teams -- by sharing expertise and resources between the two genders and further strengthening the family culture fostered by the two programs.
"Both the men's and women's track and field teams here at Michigan have tremendous legacies of their own, and we are excited about the history we will begin making together as a combined program starting this year," Clayton said. "Though we were technically separate programs before, everyone between the two staffs always had collaborative relationships with one another with the shared goal of making Michigan track and field the best it can be. Combining the programs allows us to take that collaboration and cooperation to the next level."
Henry will oversee the women's team and Clayton will oversee the men's team, with assistants Mike McGuire, Kevin Sullivan and Steven Rajewsky -- each overseeing their own areas of specialized responsibility -- now better able to provide guidance to student-athletes of both genders.
Additionally, the program is in the final stages of a national-level search to hire an assistant coach in charge of the jumps and combined events for both men and women.
After coaching the women's throwers on an interim basis during the 2017 outdoor season as former assistant Sandy Fowler became the director of track & field and cross country at Coastal Carolina, Clayton will now officially coach both genders' throwers.
Associate head coach McGuire will continue to work with the female distance runners, while Sullivan will continue to guide the male distance runners.
Henry and Rajewsky will team up to mentor the Wolverines' corps of sprinters, hurdlers and relays. Henry will continue to coach the women's group, and Rajewsky will continue to work with the men.
"With the next chapter in our Michigan track and field story set to unfold in the new building, the timing was perfect to make this move to combine the two genders into one even bigger and better program," Henry said. "We are looking forward to giving Jerry the ability to mentor our female throwers to the same outstanding levels of success the men have achieved in recent years, and to each of us having more opportunities to share our expertise with one another and our student-athletes to bolster the program.
"Most of all, we are looking forward to creating an even bigger and more cohesive family culture between the two genders. We are all now officially one big family about to move into our brand new home at the world-class facility opening this winter."
The new facility that will house the newly combined program, part of the Athletics South Competition and Performance Center, is located on State Street south of the University of Michigan Golf Course and adjacent to the existing U-M soccer, tennis, gymnastics and wrestling complexes. All running and jumping lanes both indoors and outdoors will be surfaced with the same Beynon material used in IAAF World Championships-level competition.
The state-of-the-art indoor track and field venue features a hydraulically banked 200-meter track, one of just nine such facilities in the country. Michigan's facility will be one-of-a-kind in the respect that it also features a three-lane, 300-meter practice track and an indoor/outdoor throws area unlike any other in the world. The venue features permanent seating for up to 2,000 spectators, with the ability to expand to 3,500.
The new outdoor facility will allow Michigan the ability to once again host the Big Ten Championships for the first time since 1988. The 400-meter track will surround several different jumps and throws competition areas, in addition to a throws field to the west of the track. Permanent spectator capacity will be 500.
