Blackburn Adds Gibson to Staff

HOUSTON – University of Houston’s Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Will Blackburn announced the hiring of Kyle Gibson as an assistant coach on Friday pending approval from the University.
 
Gibson joins Houston after coaching at Oklahoma State during the 2022-23 cross country and track and field season where he guided a pair of national champions and over 17 All-Americans and will serve as the cross country coach mentoring the distance and cross country athletes.
 
“I am very excited about Coach Kyle Gibson coming on board to coach the distance program,” Blackburn said. “He comes from a family generation of distance coaches and has coached at all levels in the NCAA. His knowledge, experience, and excitement to continue to grow the distance program at Houston made him the right person for the job. I would like to thank him and current interim distance coach Andy Ferrera for filling in this year. Andy will be staying on board as the team’s biomechanics video analysts coach for the entire program.”  
 
Under Gibson’s guidance as an assistant, the Cowgirls won the Big 12 Conference Indoor Championships, its first-ever Big 12 team title, the men’s American collegiate record in the 5,000 meters and the men’s team to an NCAA Cross Country Championships runner-up finish with the women finishing fourth overall.
 
“I am thrilled for the opportunity to join the University of Houston Cross Country and Track and Field Staff,” Gibson said. “Coach Blackburn and Coach Lewis have done an incredible job making Houston a national caliber program. There is a tremendous amount of potential on the distance side to add to the history of #HTownSpeedCity. It’s exciting to help this program as we work towards a National Championship.”
 
Prior to Oklahoma State, Gibson served as the head cross country coach at Oral Roberts and an assistant on the track and field staff. For the Golden Eagles, Gibson mentored the Latvian 800-meter run champion four All-Conference performers and helped host both the Summit League cross country and outdoor track championship events.
 
Gibson spent two seasons as the head coach of the track and cross country programs at Drury University from 2019-21 and has a decade of collegiate coaching experience.
 
The 2012 graduate from California University of Pennsylvania was a point scorer at the 2012 PSAC Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after transferring from Saint Francis (N.Y.) where he spent three seasons competing for the Red Flash.
 
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