Lyon College Director of Athletics Kevin Jenkins announced the hiring of Milton Williams as the new men’s and women’s track and field coach. Williams will serve as the second head coach of Lyon College’s track and field teams after an announcement was made about the reinstatement of the programs during the fall of 2017. Williams will also assist Adam Trausch with the cross country programs.
Williams comes to Lyon after serving as the head men’s and women’s track and cross country coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock since Dec. 2004. In 2014, Williams was named as the Director of Track & Field/Cross Country at Little Rock.
Williams was a four-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year for cross country while at Little Rock. He earned the honor once on the women’s side in 2005 and three times for the men in 2007, 2010 and 2012.
Williams led the men’s cross country team at Little Rock to three Sun Belt Conference Championships in 2007, 2010 and 2012, and three runner-up titles in 2008, 2011 and 2013. In 2005, Williams guided the women’s cross country team at Little Rock to a first-place finish at the Sun Belt Cross Country Championships.
In 2018, Williams coached the men’s 4x100-meter team at Little Rock to a first-place finish at the NCAA West Region. Williams worked with multiple NCAA qualifiers in track and field and cross country during his tenure at Little Rock. Most notably, Williams worked with Chris Johnson, who was the first Trojan male athlete to be selected as All-American twice in one year. Johnson was a seven-time NCAA qualifier, holds four Little Rock school records (indoor 60 and 100-meter dash; outdoor 100 and 200-meter dash) and won three Sun Belt Conference championships.
Williams served as the head strength and assistant track coach at Little Rock from Aug. 2001-Dec. 2004, before being promoted to the head track and cross country coach. Prior to his time at Little Rock, Williams was the head track and cross country coach at Cabot Public Schools in Cabot, Ark. He also served as the head strength and conditioning coach at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., for five years.
Besides his coaching experience, Williams competed at national-level venues. He was an NAIA All-American in the shot put in 1980 and a was an Olympic trial qualifier in the shot put in 1984. Williams was inducted into the Arkansas Track & Field Hall of Fame in June 2013
