Aggies get LSU coach

[CowtownPV]

Track and field coach Henry leaving LSU for Texas A&M


2theadvocate.com staff report


Pat Henry
After winning 27 national track and field titles in 17 seasons, Pat Henry is leaving LSU in search of a new challenge.

Henry, 52, has informed LSU athletic director Skip Bertman of his decision to take the head coaching job at Texas A&M, said Michael Bonnette of the LSU sports information office.

Henry is en route to College Station, Texas, for a 3:30 p.m. news conference. He was in Sacramento, Calif., where he was working with current and former LSU athletes at the U.S. Olympic team trials.

Henry, who led LSU to a sweep of this year's men's and women's indoor titles, succeeds Ted Nelson, who left after directing the A&M program since 1991. The Aggies never won a national championship under Nelson, an A&M graduate.

LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman said last week Henry has no buyout clause in his current contract. In October, Henry received a $25,000 raise that increased his salary to $167,252.

Bertman said Monday he had not yet considered potential candidates in the event Henry left LSU.

Bertman said last week that Henry told him several years ago that the only schools that could entice him into leaving LSU were Texas and Texas A&M.

LSU's women won a pair of NCAA titles in 1987 before Henry's tenure, and the LSU men had a track championship from 1933. But Henry's arrival marked a period of unprecedented success for the LSU programs. The Tigers won 12 women's outdoor titles, 10 women's indoor crowns, three men's outdoor titles and two men's indoor championships.

In addition to this year's indoor title sweep, LSU's men and women swept the NCAA outdoor championships in 1989 and 1990. No other school has ever swept indoor or outdoor titles in the same year.

LSU's women won 11 straight NCAA outdoor titles from 1987-97 -- the last 10 under Henry -- establishing a record for consecutive NCAA women's championships in all sports that still stands.

Under Henry, the Lady Tigers won 14 SEC titles (eight indoor, six outdoor) and five men's titles (three outdoor, two indoor).

Henry, who turns 53 on July 22, has coached 98 NCAA individual and relay champions, 37 Olympians and 38 world championship competitors. His LSU athletes have won three Olympic gold medals and six world championship golds.

A native of Albuquerque, N.M., Henry was track and field coach at Hobbs (N.M.) High School from 1973-83 before coaching at Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas, from 1983-87. His men's teams swept the 1987 national junior college indoor and outdoor titles before he moved on to LSU.

Advocate sports writers Sheldon Mickles and Scott Rabalais and The Associated Press contributed information to this report.