Greene named regional coach of the year

In just his third year with the Kentucky Wildcats athletics program, Bahamian Rolando “Lonnie” Greene has already earned a significant honor, being named as the Women’s Team Coach of the Year for the Southeast Region for the indoor season.

Coming off a COVID-19 interrupted year – in which both the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Indoor and Outdoor Division I Track and Field Championships were canceled – Greene helped lead the University of Kentucky (UK) Wildcats to the top ranking in the Southeast Region which comprises 35 division one schools in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky.

The Wildcats program, which features a number of Bahamians, has produced one of its most progressive seasons in recent memory. The female Wildcats broke two school records this year, and the Wildcats women have earned eight entries to the NCAA Indoor Championships, one of which is Bahamian Megan Moss who has qualified in the women’s 400 meters (m) and as a part of the women’s 4x400m relay team. Additionally, their men have earned three spots in the championships.

The NCAA Division I Championships is set for March 11-13, at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas – hosted by the University of Arkansas. Last year’s championships was canceled due to the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Sophomore Moss is a part of the Bahamian connection at UK. Greene is the head coach, Bahamian Olympic Relay Champion Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie is one of his assistants, and Moss, freshman Jaida Knowles and sophomore Amber Taylor are a part of the women’s athletics team.

Greene, Assistant Coach Tim Hall and sprinter Abby Steiner have all received Southeast Region awards for the indoor season, as announced by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCC) on Thursday.

In addition to the two school records – Steiner in the women’s 200m and the women’s 4x400m relay team, UK had 16 performances in the school’s all-time top-10 lists – six alone by the women’s 4x400m relay team.

As for Greene, this is the fifth time that he has won a men or women’s regional coach of the year award from the USTFCCCA, but his first at Kentucky. This is the ninth regional men or women’s assistant coach of the year award for Hall, fifth at Kentucky, and Steiner who has earned the Southeast Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year Award, is coached by Greene and Hall. In all three of her indoor events, she is ranked in the nation’s top 10. She also runs on UK’s 4x400m relay team.

Moss ran a personal best time of 52.32 seconds in the 400m this season, that has her listed as the 12th fastest female quarter-miler in NCAA Division I athletics. She ran that time at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Track and Field Championships where she finished sixth. At the same meet, Moss and the Wildcats 4x400m team ran their way to the third-fastest time in the country when they clocked 3:28.82, qualifying for the NCAA Championships with a faster time.

Greene was hired by the University of Kentucky in 2018. Prior to that, he was the head coach of the athletics program at Purdue University where he helped to turn that program into a national powerhouse.

Over his six seasons at Purdue, a total of 21 different Purdue Boilermakers earned 60 First-Team All-America honors across 24 events in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. His tenure at Purdue was marked by some of the best seasons in program history, climaxing with an eighth-place finish by the women’s track and field team at NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in his final season there. Under his leadership, the women’s team won the team title at 2017 Big Ten Outdoor Championships for the first time since 1999 and finished 14th at each of the last two NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships under his watch.

In his last two seasons at Purdue, the women’s team achieved their highest ranking and NCAA finish outdoors ever.

Prior to his time at Purdue, Greene spent 16 seasons as an assistant in the SEC with the Arkansas Razorbacks. 

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