Just in from Ohio State:
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gene Smith, Senior Vice President & Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletic Director, today announced the hiring of Rosalind Joseph as the new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Ohio State University.
“I am thrilled to introduce Rosalind Joseph as our new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country,” Smith said. “She has head coaching experience overseeing a dual men’s and women’s program at Southern Illinois, and now she is coming back home to Ohio State. She won six individual Big Ten championships as a Buckeye, graduated from Ohio State and then coached here under Karen Dennis and helped us win six Big Ten team titles.”
Joseph, a Buckeye alumna, returns to Columbus following a four-year run at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she served as Director of Track & Field and Cross Country. The Saluki women’s teams captured four runner-up finishes at the Missouri Valley Conference indoor and outdoor track and field championships while the men finished as high as third. A total of 10 Salukis earned All-America honors, seven women and three men.
Joseph began her time in Carbondale with a record-setting season as the Salukis set six school records, totaled 28 top-10 program performances, won 17 individual conference championships, and had 16 student-athletes qualify for the NCAA outdoor regionals – advancing three to the championships. Joseph guided the first female sprinter since 1986 to All-American honors, the first women’s 4x100 relay in program history to All-American honors and the first male runner since 1992 to All-American honors.
“We are excited to welcome Rosalind back home to Columbus as our new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country,” Jamie Wood, the sport administrator for track & field and cross country, said. “In the wake of such a historic coaching run by Karen Dennis there was no doubt in our minds that Coach Joseph puts us in the best position to continue building on the foundation of success established through Karen’s years.”
“WOW – this is a dream come true,” Joseph said. “It is not often one gets to return to their alma mater to lead. Ohio State is a place that has given me so much as a student-athlete and as a young professional, so to come full circle as director is almost unbelievable. Thank you to Mr. Gene Smith and his administration for entrusting me with this role. These are BIG shoes to fill in following Karen Dennis, but so would be the case for anyone in the country. I feel poised and prepared to come back to my second home and take on the task of continuing the tradition of greatness with this historic program.”
Prior to her time at SIU, Joseph spent a decade coaching the Buckeyes. She served as an assistant coach from 2008-12 before being promoted to an associate head coach position in 2013 and coaching through the 2017-18 season. Joseph coached the jumpers and multi-event athletes during her coaching stay at Ohio State, producing the men’s first national champion in 25 years in the long jump. During Joseph’s tenure, the Buckeyes won six Big Ten team championships and produced many All-Americans, Big Ten individual champions, Academic All-Americans and athletes of the year. She was named Great Lakes Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year before leaving for Southern Illinois.
Joseph’s first coaching position was as an assistant coach at Auburn from 2006-08.
Joseph graduated from Ohio State in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in human ecology. She was a two-time outdoor All-American in the triple jump as she finished fifth at the 2005 NCAA Championships and sixth at the 2004 NCAA Championships. Joseph was a six-time Big Ten Champion, winning the triple jump (2004 indoor, 2004 outdoor, 2005 indoor) and long jump (2004 indoor, 2005 indoor, 2005 outdoor) competitions three times apiece. She was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
Joseph continues to hold the Ohio State program records in the outdoor long jump (6.39m) and indoor triple jump (13.37m). Her outdoor triple jump record (13.50m) held for 17 years before Jaimie Robinson broke it at the NCAA regional meet this season.
In the triple jump, Joseph also qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and finished ninth at the 2005 USA Track & Field Championships.
Joseph and her husband, Dexter, have three young children: a daughter, Gabrielle, and sons Harrison and Julian.
Joseph’s hiring follows the announcement on Monday that Karen Dennis would be retiring from coaching after 45 years, including the past eight as Ohio State’s Director of Track & Field and Cross-Country.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gene Smith, Senior Vice President & Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletic Director, today announced the hiring of Rosalind Joseph as the new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Ohio State University.
“I am thrilled to introduce Rosalind Joseph as our new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country,” Smith said. “She has head coaching experience overseeing a dual men’s and women’s program at Southern Illinois, and now she is coming back home to Ohio State. She won six individual Big Ten championships as a Buckeye, graduated from Ohio State and then coached here under Karen Dennis and helped us win six Big Ten team titles.”
Joseph, a Buckeye alumna, returns to Columbus following a four-year run at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she served as Director of Track & Field and Cross Country. The Saluki women’s teams captured four runner-up finishes at the Missouri Valley Conference indoor and outdoor track and field championships while the men finished as high as third. A total of 10 Salukis earned All-America honors, seven women and three men.
Joseph began her time in Carbondale with a record-setting season as the Salukis set six school records, totaled 28 top-10 program performances, won 17 individual conference championships, and had 16 student-athletes qualify for the NCAA outdoor regionals – advancing three to the championships. Joseph guided the first female sprinter since 1986 to All-American honors, the first women’s 4x100 relay in program history to All-American honors and the first male runner since 1992 to All-American honors.
“We are excited to welcome Rosalind back home to Columbus as our new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country,” Jamie Wood, the sport administrator for track & field and cross country, said. “In the wake of such a historic coaching run by Karen Dennis there was no doubt in our minds that Coach Joseph puts us in the best position to continue building on the foundation of success established through Karen’s years.”
“WOW – this is a dream come true,” Joseph said. “It is not often one gets to return to their alma mater to lead. Ohio State is a place that has given me so much as a student-athlete and as a young professional, so to come full circle as director is almost unbelievable. Thank you to Mr. Gene Smith and his administration for entrusting me with this role. These are BIG shoes to fill in following Karen Dennis, but so would be the case for anyone in the country. I feel poised and prepared to come back to my second home and take on the task of continuing the tradition of greatness with this historic program.”
Prior to her time at SIU, Joseph spent a decade coaching the Buckeyes. She served as an assistant coach from 2008-12 before being promoted to an associate head coach position in 2013 and coaching through the 2017-18 season. Joseph coached the jumpers and multi-event athletes during her coaching stay at Ohio State, producing the men’s first national champion in 25 years in the long jump. During Joseph’s tenure, the Buckeyes won six Big Ten team championships and produced many All-Americans, Big Ten individual champions, Academic All-Americans and athletes of the year. She was named Great Lakes Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year before leaving for Southern Illinois.
Joseph’s first coaching position was as an assistant coach at Auburn from 2006-08.
Joseph graduated from Ohio State in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in human ecology. She was a two-time outdoor All-American in the triple jump as she finished fifth at the 2005 NCAA Championships and sixth at the 2004 NCAA Championships. Joseph was a six-time Big Ten Champion, winning the triple jump (2004 indoor, 2004 outdoor, 2005 indoor) and long jump (2004 indoor, 2005 indoor, 2005 outdoor) competitions three times apiece. She was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
Joseph continues to hold the Ohio State program records in the outdoor long jump (6.39m) and indoor triple jump (13.37m). Her outdoor triple jump record (13.50m) held for 17 years before Jaimie Robinson broke it at the NCAA regional meet this season.
In the triple jump, Joseph also qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and finished ninth at the 2005 USA Track & Field Championships.
Joseph and her husband, Dexter, have three young children: a daughter, Gabrielle, and sons Harrison and Julian.
Joseph’s hiring follows the announcement on Monday that Karen Dennis would be retiring from coaching after 45 years, including the past eight as Ohio State’s Director of Track & Field and Cross-Country.
