Who Is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s Coach? The Iconic Trainer Behind Multiple World Record Holders

In 2020, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone hit the reset button. Having lost to Dalilah Muhammad in a couple of races, she realized she needed someone who could make her a win machine. One can say that marked the start of a winning chapter for the 24-year-old. She subsequently bagged 2 Olympic golds at Tokyo and repeated the same in the Paris Olympics. But along the way, she has been getting faster and faster. How many times has she run a world record (WR)? Starting from June 27, 2021, in the Tokyo Olympics trial, she has progressively brought down the WR from 51.90 to 50.37. The last one came in the crucial 400mH finals at the Paris Olympics.

Evidently, the New Jersey native’s career graph has shot up in recent years with her new guiding force. Who’s the track and field legend? You all know him. The one and only Bobby Kersee, who also has the epithet ‘mad scientist’. But beyond that phrase, how much do you really know about him? Well, here’s your chance to get to know about the method that people often regard as madness.

Meet Bob Kersee: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s Coach

Bobby Kersee was born in 1954 in the Canal Zone, Panama. Son to a Panamanian mother and a U.S. Navy father, Kersee went to San Pedro High School in Los Angeles, California. Here only, he started to show his talents in sprinting. Transitioning to Harbor Junior College, his ability started getting recognition as he made the finals of the hurdles events at the state junior college meet.

Having a knack for coaching, he pursued a degree in physical education at California State University, Long Beach. All while he worked at a youth correctional facility in Whittier to sustain a living. Kersee watched wards from midnight until 8 a.m. This job would have a profound impact on his way of coaching. For him, the track is the lab and the competition a war. Are you up for the challenge?

Bob Kersee did a master’s degree in exercise physiology at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), after which he did two jobs – as a Track coach at CSUN and a counselor at another youth facility in Chino. In fact, guiding Cal State Northridge to consecutive Division I national championships in 1978 and 1979, Kersee felt his confidence growing. And with that belief, he joined the UCLA coaching team in 1980.

This is where his reputation as one of the world’s greatest and unconventional coaches would be built.

Bob Kersee’s Career Highlights and Achievements

From 1980 to 1983, he worked as an assistant coach to Scott Chisam at the Bruins while learning and integrating his own methods to coach the sprinters. The result was him guiding sprinters Florence Griffith, LaShon Nedd, Sherri Howard, and Arlise Emerson to NCAA honors. In fact, during this period, Greg Foster would win his first world championship in 1983.

The big change came in 1984, when Bob Kersee was promoted to Head coach. Seeing his UCLA athletes clinch six golds and four silvers at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was all the validation Kersee needed. His methods were working, and he backed himself. And a new era started.

The next 4 decades has seen him produce champion after champion non-stop. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is his latest success story, but this visionary coach’s origin dates back to the 1980s when Evelyn Ashford and Florence Griffith Joyner won the gold in the 100m. Over the next 9 years, from 1984 to 1993, he went on to coach Greg Foster, Allyson Felix, Dawn Harper, and others.

Kersee also amassed national-level coaching experience. To this end, he served as an assistant coach for the 1987 Pan American Games. Before this, he even had the exposure of guiding the sprinters for the 1985 U.S. Olympic Festival West. Eventually, his long-standing coaching endeavors bore fruit when he bagged the US Olympics and Paralympics Committee (USOPC) Olympic Coach of the Year title in 2022.

He continues as a volunteer coach at UCLA even though he retired from professional coaching in 1993. The list of honors and accolades is a testament to his contribution to track and field. His coaching demeanor sometimes reflects his previous work experiences in prison.

“I used to work in the prisons, so you can’t walk into the prisons being Mother Teresa,” Kersee said to the LA Times in May 2023. “And then I did find myself carrying a little bit too much of that to the track. I had to calm myself down and say, ‘Wait a minute, you’re not working with a warden.’”

“I think we have that understanding that I’m going to listen and respect them,” the 3-time Nike Coach of the Year said. “But my job is to get the job done for them individually and collectively, but you hired me. And if you hired me, let me do my job.” A straightforward guy, his offer is simple: “Listen, do you want results, or do you not want results?”

Well, his athletes have only thrived under his methods. Since 1984, his students have brought at least one gold from every Olympics. Now, that’s a quality you won’t want to compromise. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2017, and in 2023, USA Track & Field (USATF) named him the Legend Coach.

Well, Bob Kersee is still going hard. Health complications have seen him give up meat and drinking. But not track. A new generation of athletes is looking at him to guide them. That is so that they can join the numerous superstars he has produced.

Who Else Has Bob Kersee Coached Besides Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone?

In his long and rather decorated career, Bobby Kersee has mentored some top names in track and field. As per USATF, the veteran coach has trained multiple athletes who collectively racked up nearly 50 Olympic and World Championship medals. Amongst these success stories, Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s is particularly special, as the heptathlon world record holder was not just Bobby’s trainee but also his wife.

Another track and field star associated with Kersee is Florence Griffith-Joyner.  Triple Olympic gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Besides that, she had also clinched a silver in the 1988 and 1984 Olympics. And in 1987, the famous Flo-Jo would win a gold and a silver in the World Championships.

Gail Devers is another athlete who reached heights of success thanks to Bob Kersee’s methods. Thanks to Dever’s 100m wins at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, UCLA had winners in 4 consecutive Olympics in the 100m event (Evelyn Ashford in 1982 and Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988).

Probably the biggest superstar to have affiliations with Bob Kersee is none other than Allyson Felix. With 11 Olympic medals, that includes 7 Gold, and 20 World Championship medals, you would think it was her talents doing the heavy lifting. But do you know it was Kersee who first suggested that Felix should run 400?

As Athing Mu said about Bob Kersee to the LA Times, “He knows what he’s doing.” Switching over to Camp Kersee in 2023, the 22-year-old wants to change the gear of her track and field journey. And incidentally, her coach is also of the same idea. “To be honest, I would have to change her training to get more speed out of her,” her new coach said to Spectrum News in August 2024.

It is undeniable that Kersee has led a marvelous career. He is a man who calculates to the T, as also said by his long-term friend and former sprinter Ato Boldon, “He has a plan and he is going to work it out to perfection.” Sitting out many races, some on the directions of her coach, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is set to compete at the much-anticipated Grand Slam Track. Don’t tell us there’s going to be another World Record made?