Oct. 13, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina assistant track and field coach Jackie Madison will resign her position on October 16, 2009 after two years of service at her alma mater. Madison served as recruiting coordinator and assistant sprints coach under head coach Curtis Frye in her two years after attending the University as an All-American hurdler from 1998-2001.
Madison will move to Eugene, Ore., due to her recent engagement to Oregon assistant track and field coach Robert Johnson.
“I want to thank the track staff and Gamecock Administration for giving me an opportunity to do what I love and that’s coaching and working with young people,” Madison said. “Although I will be wearing the green and yellow of the Oregon Ducks, I still bleed “garnet and black”. This experience has not been taken lightly or for granted and I wish my Gamecock Family much success.”
Madison coached a young sprint and hurdle corps that earned 15 All-America honors on the women’s side in 2009. The Gamecocks earned 19 bids to the NCAA Championships in sprint and hurdle events in 2009. Under her guidance, Lakya Brookins won the NCAA title in the indoor 60m dash, becoming the first South Carolina champion in the event in program history.
“We’re going to miss Jackie dearly,” Frye said. “I recruited her out of high school and since then we have formed a tremendous relationship. Being a young coach, she filled in the gap between myself and the student-athletes on the team. Her communication with our athletes was her biggest skill. With her help the past two seasons, we’ve been able to get our team up to where our men are ranked in the top five in the country. Our academics also improved greatly with both teams earning academic national championships. She’s leaving us in better shape, and that is always the challenge as a coach. If you leave a job, leave it better than when you arrive. We’re looking forward to her new endeavors in life, and we’re real excited about her engagement.”
Madison was a key member of the South Carolina track team from 1998-2001. She was a member of the first SEC Outdoor Championship team at South Carolina in 1999 and developed into one of the conference’s top hurdlers. In 2001, she won the SEC title in the 60-meter hurdles and earned All-America status. She was an eight-time scorer at the conference level and led the team to a fourth-place finish at the 2001 NCAA Outdoor National Championships.
