Shedrick Elliott III was named the head women's cross country and track & field coach at Rowan University in July 2024, bringing 18 years of coaching experience to the Profs, including 10 seasons as the assistant track and cross country coach at national power Johns Hopkins University.
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"Coach Elliott has an excellent record of accomplishment as a high school head coach and as an assistant in one of the top programs in the nation at Johns Hopkins. Beyond his resume, he has an infectious personality and enthusiasm that resonated in the search process," said director of athletics Dr. John Giannini. "In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Coach Elliott was responsible for numerous organizational duties at Johns Hopkins which well prepares him to oversee one of our largest sports. We are very excited for our women's cross country and track & field programs' future under Coach Elliott."
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Elliott played a key role in the national and regional success of the Johns Hopkins women's and men's track teams since he arrived there at the start of the 2014-15 season. During his tenure the Blue Jays won four NCAA titles in women's cross country, with the most recent coming in 2022, and posted a total of five Top 4 finishes in the NCAA Track & Field Championships (both indoor and outdoor). In 2021-22, JHU was named the USTFCCCA Deb Vercauteren Women's Program of the Year after it placed in the top four in both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships.
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He was instrumental as both Blue Jay track teams combined to win 33 of 36 Centennial Conference Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships while he was responsible for more than 70 Centennial Conference individual and relay champions in the sprints/800m events.
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Elliott coached a total of 10 NCAA Division III First Team All-Americans at Johns Hopkins, with nine from the women's team, including the runner-up in the women's 400 meters at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships. Named the USTFCCCA Women's Indoor Mid-Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2023, a total of 24 student-athletes were NCAA qualifiers under his tutelage.
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"I am truly grateful for the opportunity to lead the Rowan's women's cross country and track & field program. I want to thank Dr. Giannini, Penny Kempf and the entire search committee for entrusting me with the care of these young ladies, taking the women's program into the next era," said Elliott.
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"With a full heart I must thank my wife Erica for constantly being by my side the past 10 years. I must also thank Bobby Van Allen, who I have had the pleasure of working for the past 10 years at Johns Hopkins, as he has been extremely instrumental in preparing me for an opportunity like this. I'm grateful to the hundreds and hundreds of athletes I was privileged to work with during my decade at Hopkins, along with the hundreds of athletes I worked with on the high school level prior to my time at the HOP. Never forgetting the past, I am excited to press ahead as a Rowan Prof and cannot wait to get started on our quest to become a national powerhouse!"
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Elliott, who holds a USATF Level II certification in sprints, hurdles, and relays, began his career as the head coach of the boys' and girls' track & field teams at Western Tech in Catonsville, MD, serving from 2006 to 2014. A five-time Baltimore Sun All-Metro Coach of the Year, Elliott coached 55 individual and relay state champions, five state championship teams, and dozens of New Balance National qualifiers, including the 2014 New Balance Outdoor Emerging Elite Women's 800m National Champion. He also spent five years as the cross country coach of both teams at Western Tech from 2009 to 2013 before starting his tenure at Johns Hopkins.
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He earned his bachelor's degree in sport management from Towson University in 2007 and prior to that, was a two-year member of the cross country, indoor, and outdoor track teams at Gardner Webb University.
Eliott and his wife Erica have an infant son, Shedrick IV.
