Track & Field/Cross Country
- Title:
- Track & Field/Cross Country Head Coach
- Email:
- jon.stuart@usm.edu
- Phone:
- 266-5038
Jon Stuart has been at the helm of the Southern Miss Track and Field program since July of 2014.
- 2021 Conference USA Indoor Coach of the Year
- 2021 Conference USA Indoor Champions
- 2021 NCAA All-Academic Team (Men's Track & Field)Â
- 2014-2021 NCAA All-Academic Team (Women’s Track & Field)
- 2014-2021 NCAA All-Academic Team (Women’s Cross Country)
- 2018 C-USA Outdoor Women’s Coach of the Year
- 2018 Women’s C-USA Outdoor Champions, 2nd at C-USA Indoor Championship
- 2018 Men placed 2nd at C-USA Outdoor Championship
- Best finish in school history with 2nd place at 2019 C-USA Women’s Cross Country Championship, 74 points
- Then-best finish in USM history with 2nd place at 2017 C-USA Women’s Cross Country Championship, 87 points
- Olympian Mariam Kromah, 400m
- C-USA Record holder, (Women’s 400m, Mariam Kromah) / (Men’s 60m, Men’s 200m, McKinely West) / (60mH, 110mH, Caleb Parker) / (Triple Jump ITF, OTF, John Warren) / (Men’s 4x100m Relay)
- 40Â C-USA Champions
- 23Â NCAA Qualifiers
- 11Â First Team All-Americans
- Four Second Team All-Americans
- Seven Honorable Mention All-Americans
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Stuart captured the first indoor title in program history in 2021, as the podium at the Birmingham CrossPlex belonged to the women of Southern Miss as the Golden Eagles were crowned champions of Conference USA at the C-USA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. Eight different Golden Eagles were named All-Conference performers, with Vivette Green earning first team honors and Cassidy Teuscher breaking the school record in the 5000m en route to begin named Freshman of the Meet. Corvell Todd won the Conference USA high jump title on the men's side, and became Stuart's 11th First Team All-American after finished fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. During the outdoor season, Stuart coached Octavia Cato to a C-USA title in the 100m, while 13 athletes advanced to the NCAA East Preliminaries. Eric Richards closed his illustrious career in the Black and Gold as an NCAA Honorable Mention All-American, after reaching the NCAA Championships for the fourth time. The Golden Eagles also excelled in the classroom during the year under Stuart's direction with 38 student-athletes named to the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll. For the first time under Stuart, both the men's and women's teams earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Team honors, while a program record of eight student-athletes were awarded for their individual accomplishments in the classroom.
The 2019 cross country season brought success to Jon Stuart and his far-flying Golden Eagles, as they conquered their previous-best finish at the Conference USA Championships placing second with 74 points. Three athletes in Sandra Szpott, Emma Kate Holdbrooks, and Lina May all finished at Second Team All-Conference, with Kate Mattox finishing Third Team All-Conference. The 2020 season was unfortunately cut short for all spring sports as the coronavirus, or COVID-19, became a health concern across the globe. After having his indoor women’s team finish in sixth and his men’s squad finish seventh at the Conference USA Indoor Championships with four All-Conference honorees, high jumper Eric Richards was set to compete at the NCAA Indoor National Championships before being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.Â
For the 2019 season, Stuart coached the team to the highest Indoor National Championships finish ever at 35th and highest at Outdoors ever at 24th. He qualified Caleb Parker, Eric Richards, John Warren, and McKinely West for both indoor and outdoor NCAAs. McKinely West set Conference USA records on his way to his second 60m and second 200m championships indoors. The men’s team placed fourth at the Conference Meet and the women placed fifth at indoors. The team had five All-Americans for indoor and four All-Americans for outdoor. Under his watch, the Golden Eagles had six Conference Champions indoors and six Conference Champions for outdoors. He also had eight student-athletes accomplish school records across the season. The men’s team was ranked as high as fourteenth in the indoor rankings. Southern Miss swept the Male Athlete of the Meet accolades for indoor at Conference for the second time in two years with West and Warren, and had the Male Field Athlete of the Meet (Warren) and the Women’s High Point Scorer of the Meet for the Outdoor Conference Championships, after Danisha Jones won in the discus, placed third in shot put and fourth in the hammer throw, amounting to 21 points. Not to be outdone, Warren was named Male Field Athlete of the Year. The women’s team was named All-Academic by the NCAA once again. Â
In the 2018 season, Stuart’s success was extended, earning the title of C-USA Outdoor Women’s Coach of the Year, as well as the women winning the C-USA Outdoor Championship, taking second place at the C-USA Indoor Championship, and the men taking second place at the C-USA Indoor Championship. Seven student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championship, while five were named NCAA Outdoor All-Americans. He had three athletes named to the C-USA Academic Team. Four student-athletes were named C-USA Indoor Champions while six were named C-USA Outdoor Champions. McKinely West and John Warren were named Track Athlete and Field Athlete of the Meet at both C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, respectively. West became a three-time NCAA Outdoor All-American (100m, 200m, 4x100) and is only one of two athletes in the nation to final in three events (100m, 200m, 4x100). Warren was named a Triple Jump All-American, as well as finished 6th at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
During the 2017 season, Stuart continued his success with a C-USA Indoor Gold Medal in the men’s 100m and two Outdoor C-USA Gold Medals in the women’s hammer throw and men’s javelin. Over the course of the season the teams broke seven school records: indoor women’s distance medley relay, indoor women’s weight throw, indoor men’s weight throw, outdoor 1,500m, women’s 5000m, women’s hammer throw and the men’s outdoor 4x100m relay. Stuart had fourteen athletes, a school record, qualify for the East Region NCAA Championships and had two advance to Eugene for the Championships.Â
The 2015-16 season saw the distance Golden Eagles finish two cross country races at the head of the pack, finished fourth at the Conference Championships, and finished 14th in the NCAA South Regionals. One of Stuart’s sprinters, Mariam Kromah would break both the indoor and outdoor school record for the 400m dash, as well as set the C-USA Championship record in the same event for Indoor. Kromah would go on to become Stuart’s first Olympian, competing in the 2016 Summer Olymic Games in Rio de Janeiro for her home country of Liberia. Many other indoor and outdoor records would also be shattered by Danisha Jones, Emron Gibbs, Christopher Monroe, Kristin Zarrella and relay squads.
In 2015, his first season at the helm, the men’s team scored its’ first points at the Men’s NCAA Championships since 2004, and climbed to 6th place in the Women’s C-USA Championships. Stuart also led an assault on the Southern Miss record books, taking down school records in the men’s indoor 200m, men’s indoor 4x400m relay, women’s indoor 4x400m relay, women’s indoor 400m, women’s outdoor 400m, women’s mile run, women’s Distance Medley Relay, men’s javelin, and women’s weight throw. In total, Stuart had 8 athletes qualify for the first round of the NCAA Championships (East Region), and three to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Stuart, a 20-plus year veteran of coaching track and field, becomes only the fourth Golden Eagles’ top coach after most recently serving as men’s sprints and hurdles coach at his alma mater, The University of Georgia. He spent a total of 15 seasons at Georgia.
Under his guidance during eight seasons, the Bulldog sprinters/hurdlers tallied six Southeastern Conference individual titles, an impressive 23 All-American certificates and one NCAA title. Stuart was named the 2012 USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year. Stuart helped guide the Bulldogs men’s program to a sixth-place showing in the NCAA Outdoor Championship in June, which was their best-ever finish in school history.
The Bulldogs posted three All-Americans during outdoor season, including senior Johnathan Smith, who finished 16th in the country in the 100 meters at 10.27. The men’s 4x400 meter relay team posted a 16th place as well, while junior Drew Branch posted 17th place in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400 meter hurdles.
Johnathan Smith, in his first season with the Bulldogs in 2013, clocked a 10.20 100-meter dash time to advance to the NCAA Championships in an event that routinely features times that are competitive worldwide. In 2012, the former Bulldog sprinter led his 4x400 relay team to both the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets and his 4x100 team to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Seven-time All-American and three-time SEC champion Torrin Lawrence also earned All-America certificates in the 400 at both indoor and outdoor Nationals in 2012 after capturing the 2010 NCAA indoor title in the event. Lawrence was named the USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Track Athlete of the Year for his efforts for the third time in his career. He officially ended his UGA career by shooting to No. 2 in the school record books with his 45.40 at the 2012 Olympic Trials semifinals. Stuart’s sprinters and hurdles set 20 fresh marks in the Bulldog indoor and outdoor all-time top-10 lists during the 2012-13 seasons.
Stuart qualified his 4x100 team, 4x400 relay team, Lawrence in the 400 and Phillip Adams in the 400 hurdles, who clocked a 51.12 at the NCAA East Prelims, for the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships after altering the school record books in three of the four events during the season. Prior to competing outdoors, Lawrence earned runner-up honors at the 2011 NCAA indoor meet after completing his 400 in 45.96.
In just his second season under Stuart’s tutelage in 2010, the electrifying Lawrence won an NCAA title, an SEC title and was named the 2010 USTFCCCA National Male Track Athlete of the Year. He clocked the third-fastest 400 collegiate indoor time in history (45.03) followed with an SEC meet record time of 45.10 to clinch his conference crown.
Stuart led New Jersey native Justin Gaymon, who completed his eligibility in 2009, to three SEC championships as well as six All-America certificates combined in the 400, 400 hurdles and 4x400 relay during his career. Gaymon finished atop Georgia’s all-time lists in the indoor 400 (45.94), 400 hurdles (48.46) and the indoor 4x400 relay (3:07.45). He also joined David Dickens, Brian Etelman and Michael Proctor as they clocked the second-best outdoor time in school history in the 4x400 relay at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships to finish fifth (3:04.13) and earn All-American distinction. Thanks in part to Stuart’s crew, the Georgia have men nine top-20 NCAA finishes since 2000.
Georgia sprinters have had an array of memorable experiences over the last number of seasons. In 2007, Stuart helped Dickens cap his career off in style as the Wheeler High School graduate broke the school’s indoor 400 record (46.27) at the SEC Championships. After Gaymon topped that indoor 400 time in 2008, Stuart guided Lawrence, then a freshman sensation, to the No. 2 spot on the all-time list after Lawrence crossed the finish line in 46.18 in 2009. Lawrence shattered the No. 1 mark in 2010.
Lawrence, who hails from Jacksonville, Fla., set the school’s indoor 200 mark after opening the 2009 season with a 20.77 and a win at the Kentucky Invitational. Stuart continued Lawrence’s development at the national meet as Lawrence earned All-American honors in the event.
During the 2006 campaign, Stuart saw Dickens break the indoor 200 record (21.05) and earn All-American honors at the NCAA indoor meet. Dickens, who scored in four events at the SEC outdoor meet, joined Gaymon, who advanced to the semifinals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400 hurdles and moved to the then-No. 3 spot in the school record books in the event (50.20), as two of the top performers in the conference.
In 2005, a pair of Bulldogs led another outstanding group of Georgia sprinters and hurdlers and showed why their program is one of the most highly-respected programs in the nation. LaRon Bennett, who completed an outstanding career in Athens, and Demiko Goodman, who began his career at Georgia in an impressive fashion, were Georgia’s leaders throughout the season. While Bennett logged a career-best time in the 110 hurdles (13.86) in the early rounds of the SEC Championships and then took fifth in the 400 hurdles at the NCAA Championships, Goodman, a receiver for the Bulldog football team, finished in third place in the 400 (a career-best 46.23) in the NCAA Regional meet and placed 16th in the NCAA Championships in his only complete season at the collegiate ranks.
In 2004, Stuart coached Bennett to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and a seventh-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Bennett’s time in the 400 hurdles ranks him atop the Georgia all-time list. Stuart also guided the men’s 4x400 and 4x100 meter relay teams to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1999 and 1987, respectively. The 4x100 meter relay team posted a season best time of 39.60 to place third at the East Region Championships while the 4x400 meter relay placed second with a season-leading mark of 3:06.23. It marked the first time in school history that both relays were represented at the NCAA Championships. Indoors, Stuart’s sprinters have continued to rewrite the Georgia record books with new marks in the 400 with Lawrence’s performance and 4x400 relay (Gaymon, Michael Proctor, Phillip Adams, Lawrence; 3:07.45). In all, Stuart’s sprinters sit atop the all-time lists in five different sprints.
Stuart coached the women’s 1,600 meter relay teams that qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships from 2001-2003 and the 2000 team that qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and set the school indoor mark. He also guided Ken Garrett to a school record and NCAA qualifying mark in the 400 meter hurdles in 2001.
Prior to returning to Georgia, Stuart served as the head track and field coach at ULM for a season. The Warhawks placed 16th on the men’s side at the 1999 NCAA men’s outdoor track and field championships under Stuart’s direction, producing three All-Americans as well as one national champion in Andras Haklits.Â
Before his coaching stint at ULM, Stuart led a nationally recognized sprint squad at the University of Texas-Arlington for three years. While at UTA, he helped produce 20 Southland Conference Champions and 11 NCAA Division I All-Americans. Stuart also helped the Mavericks capture nine Southland Conference team titles.
Prior to his collegiate coaching career, Stuart was the head track coach at East Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., where his athletes set 11 school records.
Stuart started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Bulldogs under John Mitchell, from 1993-94. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education at Georgia in 1992 and his Master of Education in Physical Education in 1994.
The 1992 UGA graduate is married to the former Gail Moreland in December 2002 and has two sons, Jake and Scot.
