FAMU introduces new track coaches

FAMU officials formally presented former U.S. Olympian Walter McCoy and collegiate track and field coach Darlene Moore as the school’s new men and women’s track and field and cross-country head coaches, respectively.

FAMU President James Ammons and Athletics Director Bill Hayes introduced the pair during a press conference following the monthly Board of Trustees meeting.

“Track and Field is a very special part of the total athletics program at Florida A&M University,” Hayes said. “We feel confident that we have selected two coaches who have a great appreciation for the FAMU track tradition, who will be strong mentors to our student-athletes, and who will work hard to restore the sport to a championship level.”

McCoy was a 13-time All-American at Florida State University, winning two World Cup Championships, a pair of NCAA National championships and six United States Track and Field national titles.”

The anchorman for FSU’s 1980 National Champion Mile Relay Team, McCoy set the school record in the 400-meter dash, while earning spots on the 1980 and 1984 U.S. Olympic teams. He won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the 4x100 relay crew in 1984.

McCoy ranked in the top 10 internationally in the 400-meters for 10 straight years, setting a world record for the most 400-meter races run under 46 seconds, pulling off that feat 155 times.

A native of Daytona Beach, Fla., McCoy comes to FAMU after spending the past three years working as a head track coach and teacher in Leon and Gadsden Counties.

McCoy served as head track and field coach/cross country coach at Bethune-Cookman University from 2003 through 2006, overseeing the men and women’s teams.

He also has varied experiences in education, coaching, recreation and business, including an eight-year term working with the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and the Sunshine State Games. McCoy is presently on the Board of the 2012 Olympic Bid for the State of Florida.

He is the recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement - the highest civilian award to be bestowed by the United States Congress.

Moore comes to FAMU from Albany State University, where she served for the past two years as the assistant track and field/cross country coach. She helped lead the Lady Rams to back-to-back Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) championships in cross country and track and field.

A 1990 graduate of Albany State University, Moore competed as a middle-distance runner, lettering in both cross-country and track and field.

A 1998 inductee into the ASU Sports Hall of Fame, Moore served as head women track and field/cross country coach at Fort Valley State University from 1998 to 2004, where she became recognized as one of the premier female coaches in the nation.

In 2002, she was named the Georgia Female College Coach of the Year by the Georgia Women's Intersport Network and the National Female Track and Field Coach of the Year by the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports.

She is also four-time SIAC Cross Country Coach of the Year, four-time SIAC Track and Field Coach of the Year, and a three-time NCAA Division II South Region Track and Field Coach of the Year – the only female coach in the South Region to win this award.

Moore served as the SIAC Cross Country Chairperson in 2003-2004, and on the NCAA Division II Track and Field Committee, the only African American on the Committee at the time, and the only female coach in the history of the SIAC to serve on this committee.

While at Fort Valley, her teams won eight consecutive SIAC track and field/cross country championships - the only female coach in the history of the SIAC to do so, and during her six-year tenure, her teams brought home a combined 20 SIAC championships.

Moore’s teams at Fort Valley produced 71 individual conference champion student-athletes, three NCAA Division II South Region Athletes of the Year, four SIAC Track and Field Most Valuable Performers, four SIAC Cross Country Most Valuable Performers, three NCAA National Champions, seven NCAA Runners-up, 15 Track and Field All-Americans and two USA Track and Field Championship National qualifiers.

“FAMU’s athletic program has a rich tradition of raising nationally and internationally recognized athletes,” Ammons said. “With the addition of these two new coaches, we hope to reignite the fire we know exists in the FAMU track and field program.”