Jonina Brinson enters her first season as Head Coach of the William Carey University men's and women's track & field programs after previously serving as an assistant coach at Eastern Washington University since 2021.
A nationally accomplished athlete and rising coach, Brinson brings experience at the NAIA, NCAA Division I, and NCAA Division III levels. During her time at Eastern Washington, she coached athletes to 40 additions on the program's all-time top 10 lists, four Big Sky Conference championships, 13 conference top-three finishes, five school records, one Big Sky Championship meet record, five NCAA West Regional qualifiers, and one USATF Outdoor National qualifier. Under her guidance, Eastern Washington's women's triple jump group earned national rankings of 15th indoors and 17th outdoors. She also coached the two first female athletes in program history to surpass 20 feet in the long jump and 43 feet in the triple jump, while helping return the Eagles' multis program to the conference podium for the first time since 2001.
Prior to Eastern Washington, Brinson served as an assistant coach and later Head Coach at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. During her tenure, the women's outdoor track & field team achieved its highest point totals in program history at the American Rivers Conference Championships, while the 2022 indoor squad posted its best conference finish since 2013. Brinson coached 6 school records, 18 All-Conference performances, four conference champions, four All-Americans, three Midwest All-Region athletes, and a national qualifier. In 2021-22 alone, she placed 39 athletes on Buena Vista's all-time top 10 performance lists.
Brinson began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Bethune-Cookman University following an outstanding collegiate career. A former standout at the University of Mobile and Bethune-Cookman, she earned 10 NAIA All-America honors and won two NAIA national championships in the long jump while competing for Mobile. She was named the 2016 SSAC Track Athlete of the Year and the 2017 SSAC Track & Field Athlete of the Year. During her time in the SSAC, she established 11 school records and set the conference's all-time top scorer record, which still stands.
After transferring to Bethune-Cookman in 2018, Brinson was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Field Athlete of the Year and qualified for the NCAA Championships.
Brinson earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Mobile in 2017 and has built a reputation for athlete development, recruiting, and championship-level success throughout her coaching career.
