Who is Gabby Thomas’ Coach? All About the Coach Who’s Fueling Gabby Thomas’ Track and Field Legacy

Ranking among the top four fastest women ever, Gabby Thomas has already etched her name in sprinting history. With her blistering speed in the Paris Olympics, she clinched 3 Gold medals. Thomas is clearly at her peak, positioning herself for yet another podium as Grand Slam Track approaches. However, it’s not only her remarkable speed that distinguishes her. Behind the ascent of any exceptional athlete, the pivotal role of their coach shines through. For Thomas, it has been a former Olympics medalist. You probably are wondering who. Well, let’s find out.

Meet Tonja Buford-Bailey: Gabby Thomas’s Coach

Thomas’s journey from collegiate record-breaker at Harvard to professional sprinter has been guided by the influence of Tonja Buford-Bailey, a three-time Olympian and her mentor. Tonja Buford-Bailey, a former University of Texas coach, boasts a storied legacy as both an athlete and coach. In addition to her achievements as the 1992 NCAA Champion in the 400mH, Buford-Bailey also clinched the bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Just a year before her Olympics success, she had landed the silver at the 1995 IAAF World Championships, again in the 400m Hurdles. Her experience positions her as intimately familiar with the taste of victory and the pressures associated with elite competitions. But what sets her apart are her records. Running for the University of Illinois from 1990 to 1993, she was a 10-time All-American who clinched 25 Big Ten titles.

Such was her dominance that she won the Big Ten Track & Field Athlete of the Year award in both 1992 and 1993, and in both outdoor and indoor circuits. Talk about being an outright winner. After hanging up her running shoes, it was time to show the world her coaching skills. She was an assistant coach at her alma mater, the University of Illinois, from 2004 to 2007, following which she would be promoted to head coach.

Buford-Bailey’s Illinois stint proved that she would be a leader among coaches. She coached her athletes to 25 All-American honors. Under her, they won six NCAA titles and 43 individual Big Ten title wins between 2007 and 2013. Taking her expertise to Texas, she served as an associate head coach for four seasons. In 2016, she was promoted to the position of interim head coach.

And in her first season in charge at Texas, she would send shockwaves across the collegiate track and field world. 6 titles in 1 season – under her, Courtney Okolo would win 400m indoor and outdoor. 2 more titles came in the form of 4×400 relay indoor and outdoor. She is so good that under her tenure, Texas would also win the Men’s 400m title for the first time. Capping it off, Teahna Daniels would become the first freshman woman to win the 60m NCAA indoor title.

Tonja Buford-Bailey’s leadership extended to global levels. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, she was the personal coach to 4 athletes, who would get 5 medals. Her overarching influence saw her named the 2016 USATF Nike Coach of the Year. Overall, she would lead the Longhorns to 11 NCAA titles in 4 seasons. In 2019, she left Texas to form her own club – the Tonja Buford-Bailey Track Club, one that Gabby Thomas is part of.

Thomas’s coach is currently one of the most esteemed coaches nationwide, credited for her team’s achievements under her leadership. And she has played a key role in improving the Paris Olympian’s performance in the 100m and 200m events.

How Has Tonja Buford-Bailey Shaped Gabby Thomas’s Track Career?

In 2018, Gabby Thomas was already a sensation in collegiate sprinting. However, by 2019, she sought a high-caliber training environment, leading her to Austin, Texas, where she found her ideal mentor in Buford-Bailey. Thomas credits the support system that she found at the Tonja Buford-Bailey Track Club for reaching the next level after college, that is, becoming an Olympian. “Being with them, day after day… It’s the reason why I ran as fast as I did,” she told Eonline in July 2021.

The elite standards that the 1996 Olympics bronze medalist has set at her club elevates everyone to perform beyond what they think they are capable of. “A training group of all Black women who are all so inspirational and driven and motivated and succeeding… it’s very empowering,” Gabby Thomas noted. But it was not just about performance, competition, and sweat. Tonja Buford-Bailey coaches with a nurturing hand, too.

The athletes at the club called Buford-Bailey a ‘Team Mom. ’ When they are not racing, the University of Illinois Athletics Hall of Famer advises on life, weddings, hairstyles, and whatnot. “She’s done all of it. She actually knows how we feel,” Lynna Irby-Jackson, one of the club members, said to Runnerspace in July 2023.

For Gabby Thomas, Tonja Buford-Bailey had one particular piece of advice that got the 28-year-old in the right headspace before the Paris Olympics, as she told the Daily Hampshire Gazette in August 2024. That the atmosphere of a packed Paris stadium is so different from the empty stadiums of Tokyo Olympics when Thomas had won her bronze: “I keep reminding Gabby that … I’m not going to say it wasn’t the real Olympics, but it wasn’t the normal Olympic experience. That’s a whole different thing.”

Obviously, Buford-Bailey specializes in directed training methods that refine athletes’ sprinting mechanics and improve their efficiency and top speed. And the former Olympian had her plans for Gabby Thomas, too. But her major focus on the Harvard graduate has been the mental side. “I’m glad she was able to get that (2023 World Championships) experience in because that’s what helps you moving forward,” Buford-Bailey told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

“So the Olympics won’t feel unfamiliar. She had the pressure of the trials, so now you know what the pressure feels like, too. She’s had all these smaller experiences to get her ready for the big stuff.” Tonja Buford-Bailey has been doing this for 20 years now. She knew what she was talking about. Her methods worked like a charm: 200m Gold, 4x100m Gold, 4x400m Gold. Gabby Thomas earned the unprecedented trio.

She must be indebted to Buford-Bailey, who had made an impression on Thomas from the first moment they met.

Gabby Thomas saw herself in the shoes of her coach

With an extensive list of achievements and accolades, Buford-Bailey crossed paths with U.S. sprinter Gabby Thomas in 2019. “I was thinking ‘I’m going to have to break a collegiate record if I want to win this race”, said 21-year-old Thomas after she broke the 200-meter collegiate record. After that victory, Thomas knew that track and field was her calling, eagerly seeking to join a top-tier squad. It was during this time in Austin that she met Buford-Bailey. The connection she felt with Tonja was instantaneous and powerful, stemming from a chance meeting in Monaco.

“It was something so special about being in a group of Black women and having a Black coach because I could really see myself in their shoes. I felt like I could do what they were doing”, said Thomas while narrating her feelings after meeting Buford-Bailey. At 28, with nine global medals, including 5 Olympic medals, the Paris Olympics star is already on a trajectory that hints at even greater glory. With the able mentorship and support of her coach, Gabby Thomas is poised to reach new heights in her career.

But Gabby Thomas won’t be the only one who would say she owes it to Buford-Bailey. There’s a long list of athletes who have dominated the track and field with the 2016 USATF Nike Coach of the Year in their corner.

Who Else Has Tonja Buford-Bailey Coached Besides Gabby Thomas?

The list is too long, trust us. But we will share some names of those who became big in track and field thanks to her tutelage. One name that has to be mentioned is Ashley Spencer. Buford-Bailey was Spencer’s personal coach at the Rio Olympics, where the Texas graduate secured a bronze medal in the 400mH. At the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Spencer also won the silver in the 400m and gold in the 4×400, all with Buford-Bailey’s personal mentorship.

Additionally, US Olympic gold medalist Courtney Okolo was trained by Tonja Buford-Bailey in 2016, the same year Texas won the 400-meter indoor and outdoor titles. Okolo holds the distinction of being the first female collegian to run sub-50 seconds in the 400 meters. The year 2016 was memorable not only for Okolo, who clinched gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and set a new record, but also for Zack Bilderback. Bilderback became the first man from Texas to win a 400-meter title. Everyone is connected by a common thread – their coach.

Tonja Buford-Bailey trained several other track stars, including Morolake Akinosun and Byron Robinson, before she began coaching Gabby Thomas. Morolake Akinosun earned a couple of All-American honors and won Gold at the Rio Olympics and 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships. The former Illinois and Texas head coach has been a powerhouse of producing track and field speedsters.

Add to that list Teahna Daniels. This sprinter won Big 12 titles in the 60 and 100 meters in 2017 while at Texas. Andrew Riley was in Illinois when Tonja Buford-Bailey trained him to NCAA titles in the outdoor 110-meter hurdles (2010) and indoor 60-meter hurdles (2011).

So, with Gabby Thomas training under the best, the question isn’t just whether she’s in good hands. It’s whether she’s about to dominate. Could she take home the Grand Slam Track’s top prize? Drop your predictions in the comments!