Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi Women's Track

Knight joined the Islanders Track and Field program as an assistant coach in October of 2012 after Knight spent the Spring of 2012 as the Islanders' volunteer coach. 

Flanagan has been recognized as aNCAA Regional Coach of the Year and/or Conference Coach of the Yearover 30 times in his career. Flanagan started the Islanders program from scratch in 2000.Since that time the Islanders have brought home 11 Conference TeamChampionships, three NCAA National Individual Championships, sevenNCAA All-American awards and four NCAA Academic All-American Teamawards as well as innumerable individual conference championawards.  Flanagan has had Islanders at six of the last seven NCAANational Cross Country Championships. In Texas - CorpusChristis seven years in the Southland Conference, anIslander has been the individual Conference Cross Country Championin six of those years. Under Flanagans leadership, the annual Cross CountryIslanders Splash has been tabbed one of the premiere cross countryevents in Texas, attracting thousands of collegiate, high schooland middle school athletes.  With the opening of the new Dugan Track Stadium on the TexasA&M - Corpus Christi Momentum Campus, Islanders fans can expectto see collegiate and high school track events on campus to comparewith the quality of the Islanders Splash event beginning in the2014 track season. The importance of the opening of the Dugan Track Stadiumcant be underestimated, Flanagan said. It ishuge. Now that we have our own track stadium with locker rooms,offices, training facilities as well as a track and field venue, wewill be able to bring the track program up to the level that thecross country program has been at. The hallmark of Flanagans success is to help his athletesdevelop to the next level of performance. One recent example isKristine Burciaga (2007-2011). Burciaga developed from a walk-onstudent-athlete with a personal-best of 12:15 in the 3200 in highschool to passing the 3200 mark in 10:50 en route to a 16:58 in the5,000 performance during her senior track season. DuringBurciagas senior year, she led the Islanders Cross Countryteam to a Southland Conference Championship title with asecond-place finish. At a more advanced starting level is the example of ShadrackSongok (2005-08). Songok, who is currently a Graduate AssistantCoach for the program, arrived on campus as a freshman with marksof 14:40 for the 5km and 30:35 for the 10km. By the time Songok wasa senior year he had improved his time to 13:46 and 28:16. He hadalso clinched two NCAA National titles in the outdoor 10,000m, oneNCAA National title in the indoor 5,000m and finished seventh atthe NCAA Cross Country Championships. It marked the highest finishfor a Southland Conference student-athlete. The key to success in collegiate cross country and trackand field is recruiting good people with the necessary desire to dowhat is required to develop the full extent of theirabilities, Flanagan said. Not everybody has thetalent to be a National Champion, but if you can help everystudent-athlete fully develop the talent that they do have, thenyou will have a very successful program. That is how we have beensuccessful at every place I have been. Flanagans coaching career started at UTSA where he helpedlaunch the program in 1981 taking over as head coach in 1984.During his tenure, Flanagan coached the only Southland Conferenceteam in conference history to win the NCAA Regional title in crosscountry. He followed that performance with a 19th place finish as ateam at the NCAA Nationals, which was also a Southland Conferencerecord. Even though for most of Flanagans time at UTSA theywere not in a track conference, they joined the Southland in 1991and Flanagan managed to guide the Roadrunners to 18 titles inmens and womens cross country and track. In January of 1997, Flanagan left UTSA to go to the Universityof Texas to coach mens cross country and assist inmens track. During Flanagans three years at Texas,the Longhorns mens team won three Big 12 track titles andhad second and fifth-place finishes at the NCAA National OutdoorTrack Championships. Prior to starting his coaching career, Flanagan did four yearsactive duty in the U.S. Army achieving the rank of Captain. Incollege, he was a four-time national qualifier in cross country andqualified two times in track. His highest finish was 18th place incross country and sixth in track. In 1980, he qualified and ran inthe U.S. Olympic Trials. Flanagan has coached athletes that havemade three Olympic Games (Roger Soler in the 5,000 in 1984 and LizaHunter-Galvan in the marathon in 2004 and 2008). Flanagan has a bachelors degree from the University ofWisconsin-Platteville and a masters degree from UTSA. He hasa level two certification from USA Track and Field in the area ofdistances and was inducted into the UW-Platteville Athletic Hall ofFame in 1999. Flanagan is married to Beverly Johnson. They have one son,Solomon Johnson. 

McBride brings over 25 years of coaching experience to the Island University. Most recently, McBride served as the head track & field coach at the Shelton School in Dallas since 2011. He is no stranger to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, though, as he has worked the Islanders Cross Country Camp for the last 10 years.   Prior to spending four years at the Shelton School, where he was named TAPPS District 2-4A Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2013, McBride spent the 2010-11 school year as the head coach of cross country and track & field at the Episcopal School of Dallas. McBride spent 11 years at Bishop Lynch Catholic High School in Dallas, where he served as the head coach of the cross country and track & field programs in addition to serving as the schools strength and conditioning coach. In his time there, he won five TAPPS state track & field championships (three boys, two girls) and a pair of TAPPS girls cross country state championships. He was named the 2004 TAPPS 5A Texas Coach of the Year. The East Texas State (now Texas A&M-Commerce) graduate spent four years as an assistant coach at his alma mater following his graduation. There, he served as the assistant cross country and track & field coach, working primarily with sprints, hurdles, jumps and multis. He coached six Division II All-Americans in his tenure at East Texas State. Additionally, McBride has a wealth of experience working at various collegiate summer camps, including Wisconsin, Texas Tech and the University of Oregon. He has also served as meet director at a multitude of high school meets throughout the state and spent time as the Co-Executive Director of the Texas Track & Field Coaches Association.