AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track & Field head coach Edrick Floréal announced the addition of Ricky Morgan Jr. to his coaching staff on Monday. Morgan Jr., who will assist with the sprints, hurdles and jumps, spent the last year as a volunteer coach at USC.
"Ricky will be a great addition to our staff as the assistant sprints, hurdles and jumps coach, and I'm excited to welcome him to The University of Texas.," Floréal said. "We needed someone who has been at the highest level, and someone who can help assist our kids in getting to that level. Ricky has worked for a historic program at USC, assisted the coaching staff there, been a former NCAA student-athlete himself and a national champion. I think he'll bring that experience of having been at the highest level, and having been around world-class teams that accomplished great things, to Texas.
"He's also been around great people that have accomplished great things. He has lived with them, trained with them and his experience will be essential for our success."
Prior to being one of USC's volunteer coaches this past season, Morgan Jr. was a four-year standout sprinter for the Trojans. Throughout his collegiate career (2015-18) he was part of the Trojans' NCAA outdoor champion and collegiate record-setting 4x400-meter relay team, which ran 2:49.00 on June 8, 2018. The relay team, which also featured Michael Norman, Rai Benjamin and Zach Shinnick, also set the collegiate indoor record and won the NCAA indoor title with a time of 3:00.77. At the time, it was also the fastest men's indoor 4x400-meter relay ever, but it was not recognized by the IAAF.
Morgan Jr. finished in the top five in the Pac-12 400-meter dash all four years and also scored in the conference meet in the 200 meters, 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays. Morgan Jr. earned individual All-America honors in the 400-meter dash, placing seventh with a time of 46.63 in 2016. His PR of 45.44 ranks just outside of USC's all-time top-10 marks in the event.
"Coming to Texas is a great opportunity for me to not only be able to be in Austin and be under Coach Floréal and his tutelage, but to also be an addition to the great staff that is already there," Morgan Jr. said. "The staff at The University of Texas is top notch and I'm excited to be a part of that, and I believe I'll be able to complement them well. We're looking forward to continuing to build Texas Track & Field into the top program in the country."
Morgan Jr. graduated from Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, Va., in 2014. As a senior, he placed fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 46.71 at the USATF Junior Championships. That time was the fourth-fastest by a high school senior and seventh-fastest overall by a high school runner in 2014. He ran the third leg for Team USA's winning 4x400-meter relay, which clocked a time of 3:03.31, to grab the gold medal at the IAAF World Youth Championships. Morgan Jr. was also an honor roll student all four years of his high school career.