Southern Arkansas University Track & Field Head Coach
Tim Servis has announced that current assistant coach
Alonzo Banks, who is in his sixth year at SAU, has been promoted to the role of Associate Head Coach, effective immediately. Hired on August 4, 2014, Banks became the program's first full-time assistant coach following the announcement that the programs would be rebooted for the 2015 season. Banks will also take over as Associate Head Coach of the SAU Cross Country programs.
"Coach Banks has done an excellent job developing our athletes and setting a high standard of our expectations on and off the track," remarked Servis. "His wisdom of our sport has helped our program excel quickly these past four years. Not only is he a great coach, but he sets a great example for our youth."
A decorated sprinter in his collegiate days at Ole Miss, Banks has brought an unrivaled knowledge and leadership in the sprint, hurdle and jump events which has helped push the Muleriders and Lady Muleriders into perennial contenders within a talented Great American Conference. Most recently, Banks played a key part in the Muleriders winning the program's first conference title since 1985 after being crowned the 2018 GAC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Champions.
Since the SAU programs first competed in the GAC Championships in 2016, Banks has helped lead the Lady Muleriders to back-to-back Runner-Up finishes at the conference meet in 2016 and 2017 and most recently aided in the program's third-place showing in 2018. On the men's side, Banks' guidance helped the Southern Arkansas Men place second in 2016 and 2017, before the program literally ran away with the aforementioned title this past spring in Magnolia.
In his time at Southern Arkansas, Banks has coached 98 All-Conference athletes and seven GAC Athlete of the Week honorees. Ten individual athletes (5 jump, 5 sprint/hurdle) and a pair of relay teams have captured event titles since the GAC first hosted an outdoor track & field championship in 2016. Banks' athletes have notched NCAA DII provisional qualifying marks and times nine times and he has also mentored five USTFCCCA All-Central Region performers.
Most notable among the athletes under Banks' instruction are USTFCCCA All-America and two-time GAC individual champion
Kenisha Bryant (400m & 400m Hurdles) and USTFCCCA All-Central Region performer, three-time GAC Individual Champion (Long Jump -2016, 2018; 200m - 2018), two-time GAC Relay Champion (4x100, 4x400 – 2018) and 2018 GAC Men's High Point Award Winner
Karonce Higgins.
Program records have fallen under Banks' direction as the women's 100 hurdles (14.93) and the men's 4x400 relay (3:12.69) were broken this past season, with the men's 4x400 time setting a new Great American Conference record. The women's 400 hurdles and long jump records have been broken twice since the program's restart and Banks' athletes have also set program-best times in the men's 100 meter and women's 400 meter events.
In his five years at Southern Arkansas, Banks has added several national certifications to his resume including a USA Track and Field Level 1 certification, while also becoming a United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Sprints, Hurdles and Relays Specialist.
Banks, a former All-American and SEC individual champion while at Ole Miss, came to SAU after spending the 2013-14 year as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater. As a coach at Ole Miss, Banks helped mentor the middle distance runners under the direction of head coach Brian O'Neal.
Prior to his coaching stint at Ole Miss, Banks worked for the City of Jackson from 2003-2013. During that time, Banks spent time as the recreation supervisor in addition to working in a similar capacity for youth outreach.
While a collegiate athlete at Ole Miss in the late 1990s, Banks ran as a sprinter in the long sprints and earned indoor All-America honors three times (400-meter in 1996, 4x400-meter relay in 1999, and 800-meter in 1999). Additionally, Banks was the SEC individual outdoor champion in the 400-meter in 1996. Banks would follow that up with a runner-up finish in the event in 1997.
During his time in Oxford, Banks was named an All-SEC First Team performer five times, was named the team's captain and MVP in 1999 and twice competed in the 400 meter event at the USA Track & Field Championships (1996 (indoor) & 1999 (outdoor)).
Additionally, Banks was a member of the Rebels' 4x400 meter relay team that claimed Penn Relay titles in 1995 (Men's Collegiate Division) and 1999 (Men's Championship of America).
A native of Liberty, Miss., Banks graduated from Ole Miss in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. He is married to Kogrecha Joy Banks, and the couple has four children: three sons, Tyrenzo (current Mulerider senior sprinter), Ta'Zion and Taahir, and one daughter, Ti'Alone'.
