Henley brings unique experience
Gaining respect from her athletes is something that will not be hard for Dionne Henley, given her resume.
Competing in the 100-meter hurdles for Jamaica twice in the Olympics is not something every athlete can say their track coach accomplished.
A Hall of Fame inductee at Middle Tennessee State University, the new assistant track and field and cross country coach has competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics for Jamaica and coached at Texas, Tennessee State and MTSU. She was a national champion in the 60-meter hurdles at Middle Tennessee State, where she earned All-America honors twice and broke six school records.
Recently hired as sprints and hurdles coach, Henley was brought in by track and cross country director Willie Randolph to ease the transition to a new model for the two sports.
“The transition has been relatively easy and it is exciting,” Henley said. “The staff around here is also making it easier for me with finding my way around campus and stuff like that.”
Randolph and Henley have a background together, and Randolph said that was something that made it easy to hire Henley.
While coaching at the University of New Orleans, Randolph said he would run into Henley during meets while she coached at Tennessee State University. He said they would talk during and after meets, mostly about track, and they stayed in touch for more than six years.
“Being peers in the same area, with the same association of quality coaches and quality people, she was one of the first female coaches that I thought about bringing on my staff,” Randolph said. “I expect nothing but good from all of my coaches, I expect the best.”
Female perspective
Randolph said with track and cross country being a male-dominated sport, Henley can have a positive effect on all the athletes, especially the women.
“I expect Coach Henley to be a very strong role model for the female athletes,” Randolph said, “not just on the elite level, but how you carry yourself as a classy person, how you separate yourself from just being there and being recognized.”
Henley started her coaching career while volunteering at the University of Texas. She then spent two years coaching at her alma mater, MTSU, winning three conference championships and training four all-Americans as an assistant coach.
In 2007, Henley became an assistant coach at Tennessee State University where she coached hurdles, long jump, triple jump and high jump. In her first year at TSU, Henley helped the team to an Indoor Championship in 2008.
Randolph said her experience as a coach and an athlete should mesh with CMU.
“Once you find a quality coach and a quality person that is really in it for the same reason your in it, you have to give them every opportunity to blossom,” Randolph said. “I want her to blossom; once she starts spreading her wings a little more, the athletes can look past just being a part of something.”
Henley will join a new coaching staff that has yet to be finalized.
