Women's Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach - Men’s and Women’s Sprints/Hurdles
- Email:
- lbrown98@kent.edu
- Phone:
- 330-672-8441
Kent State track and field alum Laron Brown III was hired assistant coach in October of 2018 and trains the men’s and women's sprints and hurdles student-athletes.
In addition to working with the sprinters and hurdlers, Brown also works with the middle distance runners. He also monitors the academic progress of the track-and-field athletes and organizes and manages all home meets and organizes and coordinates the travel to all away meets.
In his first season as an assistant coach and training men's sprints and hurdles, Brown helped produce 1 MAC Freshman Track Athlete of the Year (Hodrick - 2019 Indoor), 1 top-5 time (Hodrick - Indoor 200m), and 2 MAC runner-up finishes (Harris - 2019; 4x400 relay - 2020).
Brown previously spent two years on staff at Michigan, serving as a program assistant and recruiting coordinator. His efforts landed the Wolverines’ 2018 recruiting class a No. 6 national ranking from MileSplit. The 42-member class is also the largest in program history. His other duties included assisting with team travel and home meet management.
Prior to his stint at Michigan, Brown was an assistant coach at Capital University, mentoring Logan Allison to USTFCCCA All-Great Lakes Region honors and three Ohio Athletic Conference titles during the 2016 indoor and outdoor seasons. Working with the Crusaders’ sprints, hurdles and jumps athletes, he mentored three All-OAC performers in his one season.
Brown began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant with the Golden Flashes during the 2015 season. He was instrumental in the 4x400 relay team of Matt Tobin, Andrew O’Leary, Danny Young and Miles Dunlap placing 16th at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships to earn the program’s first All-America honors in the event. Brown also coached seven NCAA Regional qualifiers, three individual Mid-American Conference champions and seven All-MAC performers.
A three-year letterwinner and two-year captain for the Golden Flashes, the speedster earned multiple All-MAC honors on the track. Brown was part of the 4x400 relay team that took first at the 2013 MAC Outdoor Championships. In 2014, he anchored the 4x400 relay team that set the school record at the Tennessee Relays (currently third in record book) and ran leadoff for the 4x100 relay team that qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary round.
The Dayton, Ohio native graduated from Kent State in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in political science with a specialty in international relations while minoring in communication studies.
