Leroy Burrell, the former University of Houston star sprinter who later led the Cougars’ track and field program for 23 years, has been hired as Texas A&M’s head coach, the school announced Sunday night.
Burrell replaces Pat Henry, who recently retired after 22 seasons as A&M’s coach and 10 NCAA team championships.
At UH, Leroy Burrell had one of the most decorated tenures for any coach in Cougars athletic history, with 11 Olympians, 15 NCAA champions, 46 school records, 254 All-Americans and 353 individual conference champions produced on his watch.
Burrell was at the helm for 44 conference men’s and women’s team championships in Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference and was named his league’s coach of the year 37 times.
At Auburn, Burrell guided the Tigers to four top-five finishes at the NCAA championships, including an outdoors second-place finish nationally in 2024.
“We are excited to welcome Leroy and his family to Aggieland,” Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts said. “He is an outstanding leader that has achieved championship-level success everywhere he has been. He has developed elite athletes that have won on both the national and international stages. An Olympic gold medalist and national champion himself, he has a strong understanding of what it takes to compete at the highest level. We are confident he will continue to build on the great success and tradition of our track & field program.”
As a UH athlete, Burrell twice won the indoor long jump and also the outdoor 100 meters. He went on to a decorated international track and field career, winning the gold medal as part of the United States’ 400 relay team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He began coaching in 1999.