FAYETTEVILLE — A former Arkansas Razorback national champion triple jumper is taking over Texas’ track and field program.
Edrick Floreal — who won five NCAA triple jump titles and was a nine-time All-American at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville where he lettered from 1987 through 1990 — has been hired as Texas’ head coach.
It is Floreal’s third head coaching job. He was at Kentucky the last six years and at Stanford the six years before that.
“This is an opportunity,” Floreal said at a news conference announcing in Austin, Texas, announcing his hiring. “This is a place that has all the required elements for success.”
Despite Texas’ facilities and recruiting base, the Longhorns never have won a men’s title in track and field. Texas has won a combined nine women’s national titles, but none since 2006 indoors.
Texas finished 25th in the men’s standings with 12 points and 34th in the women’s standings with 7 points at this year’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
“We should be the benchmark,” Floreal said. “And that’s going to be my job, to pick people to work alongside me that can develop this into a national powerhouse, that can build it into what it should be.”
Texas will host the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2019 and 2020.
“The pressure is on,” Floreal said. “We can’t host and do poorly. I’ve got to make sure that we quickly turn it around.”