Purdue Track: Lonnie Greene Is Headed To Kentucky

I will be the first to admit, we did not cover track on this website nearly as much as we should have over the past 6 years. 6 years ago is when Lonnie Greene took over this program and turned it around, almost immediately.

Today marks the last day of Lonnie being a Boilermaker, as he has accepted a job at the University of Kentucky as the Head Track Coach and Cross Country Coach for both men and women.

Lonnie was one of the late hires on Morgan Burke’s career that actually ended up working extremely well. Lonnie came to Purdue after being in charge of the Women’s Track Program at Arkansas for 16 years.

Little did we know, he would have this team competing for national championships in just a few short years. During his time at Purdue, here are a few of his accomplisments.

• 2017 Indoor Women’s Coach of the Year
• 38 Boilermakers to 86 All-America Honors in 6 years at Purdue
• 21 Boilermakers earned 60 First Team All-America Honors
• 2017 Women’s Outdoor B1G Champions
• Runner up in 2018 B1G Outdoor Championships

I cannot blame Coach Greene for leaving, Kentucky is considered one of the strongest track programs in the nation, as their women finished as national runner ups in 2015. Their previous head coach recently left for a coaching position at Texas.

Coach Greene did sign a 4 year extension in 2016. Which is somewhat groundbreaking as there are only a handful of NCAA coaches that have multi year deals in track or cross country. Coach Greene was expected to make $170,000 this year. Per his contact, he was be expected to pay back one year salary to Purdue for leaving the program early.

I would like to wish Coach Greene the best of luck at Kentucky.