Veteran track and field coaches Marlo Vinson and Ricardo Page have been hired as assistant coaches at Georgia State, head coach Chris England has announced. Vinson will coach the track events for sprints, hurdles, relays and horizontal jumps. Page will tutor the throws and vertical jumps. In addition, Carlos Morgan and Jamaal Barnes have joined the coaching staff as volunteer assistants.
Vinson, a former head coach at Georgia Southern and Fort Valley State, is a veteran of seven seasons of collegiate track and field. As a student-athlete at Georgia Southern (2000-04), Marlo Mincey won six Southern Conference titles and was a 12-time All-SoCon honoree, while qualifying for the NCAA Regional and setting the SoCon record in the 400m hurdles.
Page, who comes to GSU from the Jackson State staff, is a seven-year collegiate assistant coach. A talented track student-athlete, Page was a school record holder at Southern Miss and an All-Conference USA discus thrower (2008).
“It excites me to be able to add these talented coaches to the Georgia State staff,” England said. “Having finished second at the 2014 Sun Belt outdoor championship, our team and staff will set our goals on finding a way to win that championship now in 2015. This gives us a deep and qualified staff to work with all the student-athletes and help them achieve their potential.”
Vinson coached six NCAA Regional qualifiers, 15 All-SoCon selections, six SoCon champions, a conference record holder, 15 school record holders and the Most Outstanding Performer at the outdoor SoCon Championships the past two years at Georgia Southern. She was the assistant coach at Georgetown for two years (2009-11), tutoring 19 NCAA Regional qualifiers, 14 NCAA Championship qualifiers, 7 Big East champions and 20 Georgetown school record holders.
Vinson had served from 2007-09 as head coach at Fort Valley State. She coached 29 SIAC champions, 22 NCAA qualifiers, 19 All-Americans, two Division II national champions, two regional coaches of the year and 29 SIAC champions. Mincey was named the SIAC Coach of the Year in May 2009.
Page coached the SWAC champion discus thrower in each of the past two years with Jackson State. In 2014, Page's competitors in the discus took first, seventh, 11th and 13th among the 27 throwers. His shot putter earned second in the SWAC indoor championship and his high jumper finished tenth.
At Union College (Ky.), Page tutored three conference champions and an NAIA national qualifier in two seasons. He was on the staff that secured the first women's conference title in school history. Page began as a high school coach in his native Jamaica with two national champions and two Jamaican Junior national qualifiers.
Paige had been a Jamaican under-17 discus national champion and a four-time Jamaican Intercollegiate champion in shot put and discus.
Morgan is a former Sun Belt performer at MTSU, winning the team Sun Belt championship in 2007 when he was second in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump. A native of the Cayman Islands, Morgan has competed internationally, including this summer's Commonwealth Games.
Barnes is a former collegiate sprinter at Auburn. He had been a standout performer in Atlanta at Chamblee High School. Barnes worked last year with the Opelika High School track and field team in Alabama.
