Lawrence Johnson named Clemson's director of track & field and cross country

I know nothing about him other than the fact that VaTech speed events have become VERY impressive over the last couple of years after being virtually non-existent on a national level. That can't be a bad sign.

never heard of him either

This guy is probably one of the best sprint/hurdle coaches in the nation,as said he brought the VT women's sprint crew from non-existant to being in the ranks with South Carolina, LSU, Penn State, Miami. He's also been the coach of Queen Harrison , who was mostly a triple jumper in high school, to going to Beijing this month for the 400 hurdles and she's only 19 yrs old. So, if I was you and your son I wouldn't count Clemson out of your search, especially if he's a sprinter but since if he's a distance( most likely since your on Let's Run) than I'd talk to the coaches down there.

My question is: What happened to Lawrence Johnson aka LoJo the Olympic pole vaulter?

he coaches at Univ. South Carolina

If you never heard of him obviously you know nothing about track and field.

He's had one or two good years. That's it. He's way in over his head.

Lawrence will breathe new life into that program. Pollock did a great job there but I think the whole investigation (WHICH HE WAS CLEARED OF ANY WRONG DOING) took its toll on the guy. Understandable.

Lawrence will bring new perspective and ideas in, he's got a lot of talent on the men's side, and with his history of success on the women's side, he should be able to rebuild that terrible women's team. Who's his staff going to be?

Obviously everyone is gone on both sides, who's coming in?

You MUST be joking. Please tell me you are joking. Wait, could this be a Lawrence Johnson post?

From release:

[In 1995, Johnson was a member of the "triple crown" National Championship track & field team at Blinn College in Texas.]

So, he wasn't a qualifier out of high school.

The bad news with this hire is that he's not very bright and won't do much with the Clemson program. The good news is that he'll be there a long time because nobody really cares.

My advice to Mr. Johnson: Try not to burn the place down.

Just b/c the guy is not a Harvard graduate does not make him dumb.

Let's look at this in a real perspective. He did great things at Vtech, obviously did a good job with a lot of athletes and was named assistant of the year. He also has an athlete headed to the Olympics.

He got the Clemson job which means he interviewed very well, has good connections and is politically savvy. Not to mention he had a plan and vision for the Clemson program that was well liked and well thought out.

I'd say he sounds like a smart guy, no?

I hadn't thought of that. Well stated, sir.

I had forgotten that all T&F Head Coaching positions are given to people who deserve them. In fact, I can't think of any programs who have gone out of their way to hire a good profile candidate rather than a great overall candidate. I also can't think of any AD's who don't give a crap about T&F. Thanks for setting me straight.

A head coach is only as good as his support staff. Lets see where he goes with this. Obviously if he starts bringing in his buddies there will be a problem. If they want "new blood" he too should be thinking of fresh starts.

Here is what I suspect Clemson Admin was thinking. The mens program is established and it will take a lot to really mess that up. So they where def. looking for a female oriented coach to bring up the womens program.

And can everyone please keep in mind that it is WAY more difficult to get kids into Clemson that it is VT.

VT

Applicants offered admission: 71.91%

CLEM

Applicants offered admission: 57.4%

Heard a solid guy is flying the coop

The only reason he got the job is they wanted a black man.

OK, my bad. But what's a "bachalors" degree? And if he was really a qualifier, why in the world would he have transferred to Long Beach City College after one year at Blinn? I mean, he got the meaningless JUCO Nat. Champ ring and all. Did he want a California JUCO Champ ring too?

So let me get this straight; he's a qualifier who thought winning a national title at Blinn JC was sweeter than winning one at a major four year school like, say, Arkansas? Interesting...

Yep, LJ is sharp.

BLINN JUCO DROPPED THEIR TRACK PROGRAM IN 1995 AFTER HIS FRESHMAN YEAR.

SO L.J. BOGGIE" HAD TO GO TO ANOTHER JUCO FOR THE AA degree. THEN L.J. WENT TO ARKANSAS.

The LJ Boogie team ran 3:08 indoors and 3:05-3:06 st Arkansas,

Rebuiding with little scholarship money.

ARKANSAS DID NOT HAVE A HOT 4 X 400 TILL THEY RAN 3:01.89 IN 2000. THAT TEAM WAS SECOND AT 2000 NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Little scholarship monies were put into the sprints amd hurdles from 1994-2000 at Arkansas.

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) - Clemson's new director of track got in a

little recruiting right away - on the Tigers' football practice

field.

Lawrence Johnson, hired last week for Clemson's restructured

position, shook hands and shared a few words this past Friday night

with tailback C.J. Spiller and receiver Jacoby Ford, both who've

excelled in sprints for the Tigers.

Johnson also visited with incoming defensive back, Spencer

Adams, an accomplished North Carolina high school hurdler who could

bring that talent to Tiger track next spring.

"C.J., Jacoby, Spence, those guys are tremendous track and

field athletes," Johnson said. "Those guys are very instrumental

in our plans to succeed in the ACC and beyond."

Johnson, 33, was named to his position last week and knows what

it takes to triumph in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He spent the

past four years with Virginia Tech, concentrating in sprints,

hurdles, jumps and multi-events for men and women. The Hokies'

women swept the indoor and outdoor ACC titles in 2007 and 2008.

Johnson was picked as the Southeast Region assistant coach of

the year by the U.S. Track & Field coaches' association.

He's got some big track shoes to fill at Clemson. Not only will

he have to follow the success of retired men's coach Bob Pollock,

he'll have to deal with melding men's and women's programs that had

been headed by separate coaches.

He'll have a staff of five assistants who'll work with both men

and women in indoor and outdoor track and field, and cross country.

"The way I look at it, six coaches are better than three,"

Johnson said. "So we're going to combine our knowledge as coaches

and hopefully put together some great programs that are exemplary

of the university."

The Clemson athletic department decided to reorganize in the

mold of eight other ACC teams that have one head coach supervising

both men and women. Johnson's confident he could blend Pollock's

program with that of women's coach Marcia Noad, who recently

completed her eighth season at Clemson leading women's track and

field.

"We hope to continue to just build on things that (Pollock) had

built since he's been here at Clemson and add in coach Noad's

former group into one vision, and I think we can do that," Johnson

said.

Noad, a former Tiger track athlete, will remain at Clemson as an

assistant, Johnson said. Her hiring in 2000 was historic, the first

time Clemson had brought in a black head coach.

"She's going to remain on staff. Coach Noad is also an alum

here. She was an accomplished athlete here as well," Johnson said.

"She has a wealth of knowledge about the program that we want to

tap into."

Noad did not return several e-mails and messages left for her.

Johnson's hiring cleans up thorny situations that brought

Clemson negative headlines.

Pollock had been investigated by the State Law Enforcement

Division after he and an assistant were accused of depositing more

than $27,000 collected from campus track meets into personal

accounts. No charges were brought, in part because full restitution

was made.

In May 2007, Clemson acknowledged Noad gave her athletes rules

that included the lines, "Pregnancy resulting in the inability to

compete and positively contribute to the program's success will

result in the modification of your grant-in-aid money. Please

consult your coaching staff immediately to discuss."

An unnamed Clemson athlete told ESPN that she had an abortion to

stay in school.

Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips said then that

Noad's intent was for her athletes to make "safe and responsible

choices regarding sexual activity" and not to promote abortions

for women to keep their scholarships. Still, Phillips said it was a

team rule that shouldn't have existed.

No athlete lost scholarship money because they were pregnant and

the rule was removed from the handbook, Phillips said.

Phillips did not immediately return messages to The Associated

Press.Johnson's not worried about what happened before. He's got a restructured program to run.We're going to hit the ground running," he said. "I don't

ever want to have a situation where I'm giving those athletes an

excuse, our staff an excuse, myself an excuse to take our time in

transition. In track and field, everything we do is fast. We're

looking for great things as soon as this cross country season

starts."

1. Why are you writing in all caps?

2. Only a non-qualifier HAS to get an AA degree. A qualifier can transfer into a D-1 program after one year of JUCO. I think LJ "Booger" wasn't a qualifier.

3. Why do you keep talking about 4x4's? Who gives a shit? The times you mention are expected for major programs.