James Reid enters his 11th year as the head men's and women's track coach at Angelo State University. He was selected as head coach in 1999 after six seasons as an assistant coach. The native of Sweeny, Texas, also assisted long-time ASU track coach David Noble as a graduate assistant for two years and a volunteer assistant for four years prior to being named a full-time assistant.
In his 10 seasons as head coach, Reid has led the Rams track team to five top 10 overall finishes at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships, including a fifth-place effort in 2001. He has been equally successful with the Rambelles, guiding them to a school-best second-place last spring, their fourth top 10 finish in six seasons. Along the way, he has also coached 10 national champions, including three-time champion throwers Curry Dawson and Adree Lakey, two-time champion high jumper Will Littleton, decathletes Lee McCown and Mike Bohensky, heptathletes Amy Bippert and Aisha Adams, jumper LaTasha Mosley, javelin thrower Amber Miller and long jumper LaTisha Burns.
As first an assistant and then head coach of the Rams, Reid has also tutored numerous NCAA D-II All-Americans, including John Nelson (1993) and J.J. Miller (1997), both national runners-up in the pole vault. Miller still holds the ASU pole vault record with a best of 18' 1/2". In 2003, two more Rams vaulters, Andy Kendrick and Jeff Ingram, earned All-America honors. Some of Reid's other notable protégés include four-time All-American high jumper Nathan Gibson, three-time All-American long jumper Darrin Session and All-American Noah Dean, the 2001 national runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles.
Rambelles athletes have also benefitted from Reid's tutelage. Some of his other top women performers include three-time All-Americans Kathy Crowe (discus), Shavon Jackson (long jump, 100m) and Celethia Byrd (100m, 200m, 4x400m relay), two-time All-American Abbie Baiza (400mH), and All-American jumpers Shauna LeGrand (high jump), Tamara Flippin (triple jump), Stacie Cole (long jump, 4x400 relay) and Andria Nussey (long jump). He also coached Amanda Welch to an appearance in the first-ever women's pole vault competition at the NCAA D-II Championships.
One of the highlights of Reid's coaching career came in 2004, when he led the Rambelles to their first-ever Lone Star Conference championship, snapping the NCAA-record streak of 19 consecutive titles by rival Abilene Christian. For his efforts, Reid was honored by his coaching peers as the LSC and NCAA D-II South Central Region Women's Track Coach of the Year.
Another high point for Reid came in 2003, when he coached Amber Miller and LaTasha Mosley to appearances at the U.S.A. National Track and Field Championships. They were just the second and third women in school history to ever qualify for the U.S.A. meet, with Miller finishing in the top 10 in the javelin and Mosley finishing in the top 20 in the triple jump. The dynamic duo capped off their storybook ASU careers with a host of awards, including NCAA D-II South Central Region Female Athlete of the Year honors for Miller and LSC Female Track Athlete and Female Athlete of the Year honors for Mosley.
In 2005, Reid again garnered LSC Women's Track Coach of the Year honors as the Rambelles defended their LSC title in San Angelo. Alissa Miller swept five individual events to win the LSC's David Noble Field Athlete of the Year Award. She also became only the second 'Belle to be named the NCAA D-II South Central Region Female Athlete of the Year. That year also brought another proud moment for Reid when former ASU national champion Amy Bippert-Bohensky was inducted into the NCAA D-II Track and Field Hall of Fame.
In 2008, Reid coached another NCAA D-II South Central Region Female Athlete of the Year in Adree Lakey. Lakey claimed LSC titles in three events and went on to collect three more All-America certificates as well as a national championship in the discus throw. That marked the second straight season that she earned a throwing national title after winning the 2007 NCAA D-II championship in the hammer throw. Following the 2008 season, Reid was once again named the LSC Women's Track Coach of the Year.
In a career full of highlights, last spring may have been the most successful for Reid. Angelo State hosted the NCAA D-II National Outdoor Championships for the fifth time, and the Rams and Rambelles posted 22 All-America performances and two more national championships. Reid mentored Aisha Adams to the second heptathlon national championship in program history while coaching thrower Adree Lakey to a third career national title, this time in the shot put. He was recognized by his peers as the NCAA D-II National Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year for 2009.
There would also be a host of honors for two of Reid's prize pupils. Adams was named the NCAA D-II National Female Field Athlete of the Year and qualified for the U.S.A. National Track and Field Championships. With her eighth-place finish at the U.S.A. meet, Adams was chosen to represent the U.S.A. at the Thorpe Cup in Marburg, Germany. Lakey finished her career as the most decorated Rambelle in program history with three national titles and 11 All-America certificates. She was also a finalist for the prestigious 2009 Honda Award, given to the top female student-athlete in NCAA D-II.
Ironically, despite coming from an impressive track family, Reid did not start out to become a track coach or even a track athlete. He began his tenure at Angelo State in 1986 as a member of the Rams football team, but his promising career as an offensive lineman was cut short by an illness in his freshman season. Noble invited him to help with the track team and he has been on the track ever since. Reid's father, Doug, was the head track coach at Sweeny High School, where he led the Bulldogs to a state championship in 1992 and runner-up finishes in 1993 and 2001, before retiring from coaching. His older brother, Will, coaches in Harper after coaching at Kerrville's Tivy High School and Water Valley High School.
Reid received his undergraduate degree from ASU in 1991 and his master's degree in education in 1993. In addition to his duties as head track coach, Reid is ASU's assistant athletic director and head coach of the cross country teams. He and his wife, Nina, have three children, Jacob, Kyla and J.D.
