ABILENE, Texas (Aug. 7) – For only the second time in the last 71 years, ACU has hired a track and field coach with no background with the school as director of athletics
Jared Mosley on Friday tabbed former Grambling and Virginia Tech head coach Roosevelt Lofton to be the Wildcats' new head track and field coach.
Lofton – a 1984 graduate of Temple – succeeds Don D. Hood, who resigned in June after four seasons as the Wildcats' head coach. Lofton is the 17th head coach in school history, and joins Jon Murray as the only ACU head coaches since 1938 who didn't graduate or compete for the Wildcats. Murray, the head coach in 2000 and from 2002-05, graduated from Harding University.
Prior to Murray becoming the head coach in 2000, the last ACU track and field head coach that didn't graduate from ACU or compete for the Wildcats was A.B. Morris in 1938.
"We are very excited to have Roosevelt and his family join us here at ACU," Mosley said. "Through the search process, Roosevelt's experience and reputation as a technician in working with student-athletes and as a personable recruiter set him apart. His desire to build on the competitive successes here at ACU and to positively impact the lives of the men and women in his program will be a great fit on our current coaching staff."
Lofton has been a head coach at the NCAA Division I level at both Grambling (La.) University (men's and women's teams, 1987-1996) and Virginia Tech University (women's team, 1999-2001), and he was an assistant coach at both Northern Arizona (1996-97) and Virginia Tech (1997-99). He was also the head cross country coach at Grambling, and he served as an assistant coach on the South men's track and field at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1993.
Since leaving Virginia Tech after the 2001 season, Lofton, 50, has kept his hand in the track and field world by working as a high-performance coach and CEO of Kinetic Athletics in Maricopa, Ariz. He's also served as the Scottsdale United School District director of athletics, and most recently has been the program manager for the Scottsdale school district.
But he's excited to be returning to the track and field on a full-time basis as the head coach at one of the nation's top track and field programs.
""The main attraction to the job was the tradition and history of the program," Lofton said. "Every time you go to any big meet across the country you see or hear about Abilene Christian, even though it's a Division II program. That excites me to be part of that kind of tradition."
The ACU track and field program has won 57 team national championships, including 52 at the NCAA Division II level. The men's team has 35 national championships to its credit (30 at the NCAA level), while the women's team has won 22 NCAA Division II national titles. The programs have also combined to win 48 Lone Star Conference championships, including 16 straight by the men's team.
ACU track and field athletes have competed and won at some of the most prestigious events around the globe, including the Olympics, World Championships, U.S. Championships, Penn Relays, Texas Relays, Drake Relays, Kansas Relays and Mt. Sac Relays.
During his career, Lofton has been voted conference Coach of the Year four times, and he coached teams to eight conference championships. He also coached 82 conference champions and three Olympians.
"His years of experience at the Division I level and as a head coach will definitely allow him to hit the ground running and help lead our program," Mosley said. "I really believe our student-athletes will enjoy working with Roosevelt, and we're looking forward to adding him to our staff."
Lofton said current assistants Sam Burroughs, Abe Brown and
Jerrod Cook will remain on the staff and that's he's anxious to get started on Aug. 24.
"This program has had a tremendous amount of success, and my biggest thing is to continue the success and build on it," he said. "I want to continue to bring in the right type of athletes to the program; athletes who will make a positive impact on the track and in the community."
