Michelle Byrne enters her seventh year at East Tennessee State, including her
fourth season as the Associate Head Coach. Byrne is responsible for assisting
with all programs including the women’s cross country team, as well as both
the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams. She is also
responsible for recruiting and academic services. In her years at ETSU Byrne has
coached several athletes to all-conference honors, helped produce a Southern
Conference Female Athlete-of-the-Year, and instructed an academic All-
America cross country team.

The past two track and field seasons have been the most memorable for coach
Byrne since arriving at ETSU in the summer of 2002, as all of her hard work
in recruiting and coaching paid off. The men’s indoor track and field team
accomplished something that has never been done before in Buccaneer history,
by claiming the 2006 and 2007 Atlantic Sun crown. Then the 2007 outdoor
squad made it a clean sweep as they won the conference title in May 2007,
marking the first outdoor crown in school history.

At the 2007 indoor conference championships, Byrne saw sprinter Chris
Harrison set a new conference mark in the 400-meters, finishing with a
championship time of 50.28. She also coached Derek Carey and Johnny Tucker
to all-conference honors as well. On the women’s side Byrne saw five athletes
receive all-conference awards, including Jenny Knox’s school record time of
24.50 in the 200-meters.

Four months later at the outdoor meet, Byrne’s sprinters shined again. James
Rainer, Derek Carey and Johnny Tucker made it a clean seep in the 100- and
200-meter dash, finishing both events in the order they appear. The trio of
sprinters along with freshman Chris Harrison also won gold in the 4x100-meter
relay; while Harrison also took the top spot in the 400 event. Like the men, the
ETSU women sprinters ran like bullets at the outdoor meet, as senior Jenny
Knox and sophomore Nae-Nae Bailey each won medals in the 100 meters. Each
set personal-bests in the event as Knox won gold and Bailey took home bronze.
Just like Knox set the school record in the 200 during the indoor campaign,
Bailey made sure she would etch her name into the record books by setting the
school mark in the outdoor event (24.10).

For the second straight season Byrne coached Anna Marie Ricciardi (high
jump) and Rainer (100-meter) to the NCAA Regional in 2007; while she
directed the men’s 4x100-meter relay team and Jenny Knox (100-meter) to
the regional as well.

In 2006, Byrne saw 13 male athletes named all-conference, which is the
most in her tenure at ETSU. The most notable athlete out of the group was
sprinter James Rainer, who became the first ETSU athlete to compete in the
NCAA Championships since 2000. Byrne coached Rainer to four conference
championships in 2006, as he won the 60- and the 200-meters at the indoor
meet, and the 100- and 200-meters at the outdoor competition.

Also under Byrne’s watch was Anna Marie Ricciardi who also competed with
Rainer at the NCAA Regional last season. Not only did these two athletes
shine on the track level, but they also showed success in the classroom, by
being named to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
(USTFCCA) All-Academic Team. Rainer joined Johnny Tucker, Mike Wright and
Tyler Woodruff in a gold medal 4x100-meter relay performance in the 2006
Outdoor conference championships. On the women’s side Jenny Knox and
Cagney ‘Nae-Nae’ Bailey highlighted the sprint group at the outdoor conference
meet, scoring in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Knox grabbed the silver
medal in the 100, with a time of 11.98, while Bailey followed in fourth with a
personal-best 12.12.

Last season, Byrne helped coach Jenny Knox to her second straight NCAA
Regional, as well as guiding the women’s 4x100-meter relay team to
Fayettville, Ark. Knox eventually finished the season ranked 47th in the 100m,
while the relay team received a ranking of 52nd. In addition, Byrne coached
Duronal Monal (100m), Judy Johnson (60m), Zach Titman (Indoor 200m), and
the women’s 4x100-meter relay (outdoor) to conference championships.
Since Byrne arrived in the summer of 2002, there have been 31 Buccaneer
athletes named to all-conference squads, 12 individual conference champions
(31 total champions) and seven members who competed at the NCAA
Regionals. In 2005 Nichola Cornish swept away both the indoor and outdoor
400-meter conference titles and Riccardi earned her first conference high jump
title. Kim Simmons, Kristen Truman and Ricciardi all qualified for the NCAA
Outdoor Mid-East Regionals in 2004. Simmons won the 2004 indoor conference
title in the 60 meters and 800. Byrne saw a trio of her runners win conference
titles in 2003, as Simmons, Vernon and Cheryl Howard all won gold medals in
their respective events. Howard took home both the indoor and outdoor title in
the high jump.

From 1997 to 2000 Byrne worked as an assistant at the University of Illinois.
While at Illinois, Byrne led the Illini cross country team to its highest finish in
six years at the conference meet in 2000. Illinois finished fifth in the Midwest
Region, narrowly missing an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships. Three
Illini earned All-Region honors, the highest number ever in one year for the
program. She also coached two runners to All-America status.

Byrne also served as an assistant track coach for men and women at ETSU from
1992-95. An excellent evaluator of talent, Byrne was the head recruiter for both
the men’s and women’s track and cross country teams. Under Byrne, several
Buccaneers achieved individual honors. Michelle Gregg qualified for the NCAA
800 meters on two occasions and Mary Jo Ferrigan provisionally qualified for
the 10,000. In 1995, Jeff Horton earned All-America honors in the 55 meters
while Shelli Clendenon became the third female in ETSU history to earn All-
America accolades, doing so in the heptathalon. In addition, Byrne coached six
NCAA qualifiers, including Deleventie Brown in the 55-meter hurdles.

Byrne has served ETSU in many different capacities. She served as the head
women’s track and field coach at ETSU for two seasons. While with the
Buccaneers, Byrne led ETSU to the school’s first-ever Southern Conference
Indoor Championship in 1995 and the conference outdoor title in 1996.

She also guided the Buccaneers to second-place finishes at the 1996 SoCon
Indoor Championships and the 1996 conference cross country championships.
Byrne earned SoCon outdoor Coach-of-the-Year honors in 1996 and was the
conference’s Coach-of-the-Year for the 1995 indoor season.

Byrne graduated from the University of Arkansas with a B.S. in Administrative
Management. She was a member of the Razorbacks’ nationally ranked cross
country squads from 1984-88. Byrne was a key member of her Arkansas squad,
as the team finished ninth at the 1987 NCAA Cross Country Championships,
10th at the 1986 championships and 13th at the 1984 meet.

Following graduation, Byrne worked as an assistant coach for Arkansas from
1989-92, where Byrne joined with the Lady Razorback head coach Lance Harter
in guiding the Arkansas cross country team to an NCAA second-place finish in
1991 and a sixth-place finish in 1990. The squad also won the SEC title in 1991.
A native of Dublin, Ireland, Byrne was ranked as one of the top Irish junior cross
country runners and ran for the Irish national distance team from 1981-83.