Jason Francis is entering his fifth year as an assistant coach at Missouri Southern. He is responsible for coaching the sprinters and hurdlers at MSSU.
The 2020-21 season saw Francis helped the Lions continue their success at both the national and MIAA level. The Lions won the MIAA Outdoor Team Title for the women, while the teams, both men and women, finished no lower than second in the other team championships. Francis was also part of the MIAA Women's Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year.
Over the course of the season, Francis helped coach ten All-MIAA performances at the Indoor Championships as Claire Luallen won both the 60m hurdles and the pentathlon en route to earning the MIAA High Point award. Francis coached five All-American performances for the Lions at the 2021 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships.
During the outdoor season, Francis coached the Lions' sprinters to nine All-MIAA performances and a pair of MIAA Championships as Precious Olatunji won the 100m hurdles and the women's 4x100m relay team was victorious. The sprinters finished off the outdoor season with a pair of All-American performances.
The 2019-20 season was an award-winning season for Francis as he was named the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II Central Region Indoor Men's Assistant Coach of the Year. He was also part of the MIAA Men's Coaching Staff of the Year as the Lions took home the Indoor MIAA Championship. Francis had athletes combine for 58 of the Lions' 130½ points at the MIAA Championships. The MSSU hurdles squad was ranked No. 1 in the nation. Six different women earned All-American honors including Jasmine Deckard who was an All-American in the 60m, 200m and the 4x400m relay.
The 2018-19 season saw the Lions' sprinters pick up an All-American honor with Morgan Smith in the 100m hurdles during the outdoor season. On the men's side, Douglas Depagneux picked up All-MIAA honors in the indoor 400m.
In 2017-18, Francis helped coach the Lions to school records in the women's indoor 200m, the women's indoor 60m, and the men's indoor 600y. He had three All-MIAA performances in the indoor season and one in the outdoor season, helping the Lions have four individual national qualifiers.
Francis comes to MSSU with more than 15 years of experience as a collegiate track and field coach.
He spent five years as the head women's track and field coach at the University of Dayton where he helped lead the team to two separate second-place finishes in the Atlantic 10.
His student-athletes won 21 Atlantic 10 Individual Championships, and Francis had six athletes qualify for the NCAA East Prelims. The Flyers earned the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honor five times and had eight All-Academic Individuals. The team GPA at Dayton was 3.48 during his tenure.
Prior to Dayton, Francis was the assistant track and field coach at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for seven years. He focused on sprints and hurdles, as well as coaching 800m, jumps and combined events.
While there, the team won seven-straight men's Indoor and Outdoor Horizon League Championships, and had two NCAA National Qualifiers with 25 Regional Prelim qualifiers.
Altogether, the men's and women's teams at Milwaukee won 22 Horizon League Championships and Francis helped guide the team to over 150 individual Horizon Titles. The men's team at Milwaukee still hold the third-longest Division I Conference Championship streak with 16-straight titles.
Prior to Milwaukee, Francis spent two years as an assistant pole-vault coach at Lewis University, helping coach two Division II National Champions and six Division II All-Americans.
Francis' first coaching stop came at his alma mater, Indiana State where he spent two years as an assistant coach with the Sycamores, helping to coach the men's and women's pole vault.
A double-graduate of Indiana State, Francis earned a BS degree in sports science and a MA in exercise science. A track and field athlete at Indiana State, Francis was a four-time All-MVC honoree and was a champion in the decathlon, also helping ISU to a team title during his playing tenure.
