.png)
Lisa Morgan-Richman, one of the most successful coaches in New Jersey High School history, has been named TCU's head men's and women's cross-country coach, Daryl Anderson, the head of TCU's track and field and XC programs, announced.
Morgan, the head track and field coach at Bloomfield College since 2015, will also serve as an assistant men's and women's track and field coach at TCU.
Morgan joins the Horned Frogs with 30 years of coaching experience, fourteen of which come at the collegiate level. Morgan was also a five-time Team USA Track & Field coach between 2011-2016.
"We're excited to bring her into our program and into the TCU family," Anderson said. "I think she'll do an outstanding job. She's probably the most experienced distance coach I've hired at TCU. She's coached Team USA Junior teams on top of her collegiate experience. She's an outstanding recruiter and will help us compete at the national level. I'm excited to have her on staff."
In Morgan, TCU is getting a coach with one the best coaching resumes in NJ history.
Morgan, a middle distance star runner under legendary coach Len Klepack at Columbia where she graduated in 1985, returned to her alma mater in 2008 to rebuild a struggling Columbia program. She quickly restored Columbia's tradition of excellence and added to its rich legacy with a remarkable run.
Under Morgan's leadership Columbia produced several All-Americans (she averaged three Division I scholarship athletes per year since 2008), smashed multiple state and national records, captured several national championships, and smashed the New Jersey state record for the most state relays titles won.
Morgan received Essex County Coach of the Year honors eight times, is the only coach in Essex County history to garner the Coach of the Year honors for both boys and girls' teams in the same year (2008), and is a member of both the Newark Hall of Fame, and the New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association Hall of Fame..
During the 2014 indoor season. Columbia broke the state indoor record in the 4x200-meter relay (1:38.99), repeated as state champions at the Group 4 Relay and Group 4 Track and Field Championships, and won the sprint medley at the New Balance National Championships. Columbia also broke the state indoor and outdoor records in the 4x400 relay last year.
In April of 2014, Morgan became the only high school coach in United States history to win back-to-back Penn Relay 4x800 meter relay victories. Morgan's team, anchored by the high school phenom, Olivia Baker, took down the New Jersey state record when it repeated as champion at the Penn Relays with a time of 8:45.37, the second fastest time in U.S. high school history. Baker split a meet record 2:02.55 and was named MVP of the meet for the second straight year.
Under Morgan's continued tutelage, Baker went on to run a then state record in the 400 (52.46), when she placed second at the U.S. Junior Nationals, and she earned a bronze medal at the IAAF World Junior Nationals in the 400 (53.00).
There's more!
In June of 2014, Columbia won its fifth straight state Group 4 title, becoming the only program in state history to have two separate five-year winning streaks by matching its run from 1994-98.
Then at the 2014 New Balance Nationals at the University of North Carolina A&T, Morgan's sprint medley relay team made history by running 3:50.81 to take down the national record of 3:51.97 set in 2007 by Eleanor Roosevelt HS of Maryland.
That put the finishing touches on one of the greatest track and field season in state history!!
Morgan, who graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Kentucky in 1989 before completing her M.A. in Corporate and Public Communication in 2003 at Seton Hall University, also has college coaching experience prior to her recent years at Bloomfield College.
From 1993-2003, she served on Coach John Moon's staff at Seton Hall University where she helped guid the careers of several Olympic and Olympic caliber athletes. Morgan is also a USATF NJ board member.
Morgan's resume at Columbia drew national attention, leading to her being selected as the distance coach for Team USA at the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France, the head manager/coach for Team USA at the 2013 IAAF Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine, the distance coach for U.S. at the 2014 World Junior Championships, and last month she served as the first women's coach of the men's and women's U.S. Team at the World Youth Championship in Cali, Colombia, which set a record by winning the most gold medals in meet history with nine!
Collegiate Coaching Highlights
Coached 2x Olympian Kenia Sinclair, Jamaican National Champion and record holder of 800m
Coached 1994 NCAA Indoor/Outdoor 400m champion Flirtisha Harris
Coached 1994 NCAA Indoor/Outdoor 4x400m Relay champions (women)
NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 3rd place team finish 1994
35 Big East Academic All-Star team members, 1994-2003
Coached 26 NCAA All-Americans, 1993-2003
Coached 45 Big East Champions, 1993-2003
Won five East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship Team Titles
Coached over 20 individual ECAC/IC4A Champions, 1993-2003
Awards and Recognitions
2019 Columbia High School Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee, coaches award
2018 CACC men's track and field BSN Sports Coach of the Year
2017 CACC men's track and field BSN Sports Coach of the Year
2017 Columbia High School Hall of Fame Inductee
2016 NYC Armory High School Hall of Fame Inductee
2015 New Jersey State Coaches Hall of Fame Inductee
2014 Newark Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee
Two-time NFHS Coach of the Year (2011 and 2013)
Four-time New Jersey State Coach of the year (2010. 2011, 2013, 2014)
Year by Year
2015-2020: Bloomfield College - Head men's and women's cross country track and field coach
2007-2015: Columbia High School - Boys XC/indoor and outdoor boys and girls track & field
1993-2003: Seton Hall University - Associate head coach
.png)
