Edrick Floréal, Texas’ newly hired track and field head coach, has wasted no time assembling his new staff.
On Monday, Floréal announced the addition of Zeb Sion, 2018 USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year, who will serve as his throws coach.
“I’m extremely excited to have Zeb and his family joining us here on the Forty Acres,” Floréal said in a Texas Athletics press release. “Zeb is the 2018 USTFCCCA Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year. He has a proven track record of developing student-athletes no matter the level.”
This is Floréal’s first hire as the new track and field head coach at Texas. Sion is considered a splash hire and is revered as one of the top assistants in the nation.
“I am incredibly grateful to Coach Floréal and Chris Del Conte and thrilled for the opportunity to come to The University of Texas,” Sion said in a press release. “I feel as if my entire career has been building for an opportunity like this one and I’m excited about the challenge ahead at Texas.”
Sion arrives in Austin after a historic two-year stint at Stanford University, where he coached 11 combined All-Americans. All four of his throwers for the Cardinal were first-team All-Americans in 2018 and scored more points than any other group of throwers and helped lead Stanford to a third place overall finish.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank Stanford and all of my student athletes for an excellent two years on The Farm,” Sion said. “The hardest part of taking a new job is leaving my student athletes. They are all great people whom we have built tremendous relationships with over the past two years. That makes it much harder to move on from a place, but I look forward to building a great group dynamic with the student-athletes at Texas and developing a strong culture with Coach Floréal and the rest of his staff.”
Prior to his tenure at Stanford, Sion spent time as an assistant at Wake Forest, at the University of Chicago and at Idaho State. An alumnus of Georgia Tech, Sion set records as a thrower for the Yellow Jackets. He then finished his eligibility in his home state of Idaho at Idaho State University. Soon after, he joined his alma mater as an assistant coach.
Since leaving the University of Kentucky and taking over the Texas track and field program in June, Floréal was assigned the duty of hiring a new staff. The announcement of Sion’s hiring, however, might not be the last splash Floréal makes before the summer ends.
