Men's Cross Country MEAC Media Relations

Florida A&M Hires McCoy, Moore As New Track Coaches

Florida A&M University officials on Thursday afternoon formally presented former U.S. Olympian Walter McCoy and highly-decorated women's collegiate track and field coach Darlene Moore as the school's new men's and women's track & field and cross country head coaches.

FAMU President James H. Ammons and Athletic Director Bill Hayes introduced the pair during a press conference at the university's Grand Ballroom following the monthly Board of Trustees meeting.

"With these two coaches, we hope to re-ignite the fire in FAMU Track. Our program has produced the likes of Bob Hayes and Pam Oliver, and we are confident that these new coaches will restore us back to a level of greatness," said University President James H. Ammons.

"Track and Field is a very special part of the total athletics program at Florida A&M University. We feel that we have selected two coaches who have  a burning passion for track and field, a great appreciation for the FAMU Track tradition, and who will work hard to restore the sport to a championship level,"  said Athletic Director Bill Hayes.

Coach Walter McCoy was a 13-time All-American at Florida State, winning two (2) World Cup Championships, a pair of  NCAA National championships and six (6) United States Track and Field (USTF) national titles.

The anchorman for Florida State University's 1980 National champion mile relay team, McCoy set the school record in the 400 meter dash (44.99), 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 Ten 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, Florida, 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 and cross country coach at Bethune-Cookman University from 2003 through 2006, overseeing both the men's and women's teams.

He also has varied experiences in education, coaching, recreation and business, including a lengthy eight-year stint 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.

"FAMU Track is a program that can be great again as it has in the past. Coach Moore and I will work with everyone in the FAMU community to help push this program forward to new heights from a conference, regional and national standpoint.... We not only want to show our youngsters how to win competitively, but also teach them to be winners academically and in the society as well," said Coach Walter McCoy.

Coach Darlene Moore, brings an impressive resume of coaching experience to the FAMU Women's Track program.

She comes to us from Albany (Ga.) State University, where she served the past two years as the Assistant Track and Field/Cross Country Coach, helping 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 a 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.

She served as the SIAC Cross Country Chairperson in 2003-04, 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.

Her teams at Fort Valley produced 71 individual conference champion student-athletes, three (3) NCAA Division II South Region Athletes of the Year, four (4) SIAC Track and Field Most Valuable Performers, four (4) SIAC Cross Country Most Valuable Performers, three (3) NCAA National Champions, seven (7) NCAA Runners-up, 15 Track and Field All-Americans and two (2) USA Track and Field Championship National qualifiers.

"I am excited about this opportunity to be at Florida A&M. I made up my mind that I wanted to coach on the Division I level and FAMU has always been my dream job.... I want to recruit the strongest, fastest and smartest student-athletes to FAMU, so that we can elevate our program to compete on a national level... I want us to be competitive right away and I plan to really make a splash in the MEAC by the second year," said Coach Darlene Moore.