USTFCCCA names Women's Indoor Coach of the Year award after Beverly Kearney
Feb. 26, 2009 NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has announced that the organization will name the Association's Division I Women's Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year award in honor of USTFCCCA Hall of Famer and University of Texas women's head coach Beverly Kearney. "This award means an awful lot to me," Kearney expressed. "This is a huge and prestigious honor, especially when you look at the caliber of coaches across the nation and historically. I hope that my career is a reflection of all the greatness the surrounds me in the sport." Kearney-coached teams have won four NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships (1992, '98, '99, and 2006), three NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Titles (1998, '99, and 2006) and over 20 conference titles during her 27-year head coaching career. While the mentor has spent the majority of her coaching career on the Forty Acres, she started her journey as a head coach in 1982 when she took over the women's program at Toledo before moving onto Tennessee as the top women's assistant coach at age 26. At age 29, Kearney was named the new head coach of the women's track and field team at Florida where she quickly stamped her mark on the track and field world. In 1992, her Florida Gators won the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship, giving Kearney her first of seven national team titles. The '92 team championship was a landmark as she became the first African-American to win an NCAA national team championship (men or women) in Division I Cross Country/Track & Field. She was also the first female African-American track and field coach to win an NCAA national team title in any division. Over the course of her 16-year career at Texas, Kearney has produced a string of 16-straight Top 11 finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships (1993-2008), highlighted by back-to-back team titles in 1998 and 1999 and a repeat performance in 2006. Kearney's 1998 squad won the Championship by the largest margin of victory for any team that has won a Division I women's indoor track and field title. She has also mentored 129 student-athletes to 380 All-American honors and 14 individual NCAA indoor titles.
"First and foremost, I've always deemed it a blessing to be a part of the history of Texas and the tradition that the University stands for," Kearney added. "This honor most definitely reflects the character and the quality of what Texas is all about." Kearney's achievements have been regularly recognized by her peers as the legendary head coach has earned nine National Coach of the Year awards (five indoor/four outdoor) and 21 conference Coach of the Year awards (11 indoor/10 outdoor). In addition to coaching, Kearney served as the Division I Track & Field Coaches Association President from 1995-97, becoming both the first female and first African-American to hold the position. The 2009 Beverly Kearney Women's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year Award will be announced Tuesday, March 17th, 2009. |
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