Big Shoes to fill in Aggieland
Photo Courtesy : North Carolina A&T State University Athletics
By: Kurtis Alston
It’s a sad day for the North Carolina A&T State University track and field team. Head coach Duane Ross is departing for the University of Tennessee to become their head coach. He has had a stellar coaching career at A&T.
Ross accepted a 5-year contract that will go through 2027. He has been an A&T coach since 2012, and from 2017 to 2020, they have won four consecutive MEAC indoor championships in men’s and women’s track and field. In 2021, Ross led the North Carolina A&T men to a third-place finish in the Outdoor Championships. In March, the Aggies placed second in the 2022 NCAA indoor championships, the highest any HBCU has ever placed.
Ross has also coached his son Randolph Ross at A&T. Randolph became a Tokyo olympian (400m) and won an individual national title alongside Javonte Harding (200m). At the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Ross helped him win the (400m) and recorded the third-fastest time in collegiate history (43.85)
The University of Tennessee is getting a great coach who has developed more than 30 first-team All-American performers. Ross was an NCAA Champion hurdler and a seven-time- All-American at Clemson University in the 1990s.
