O'Brian Bridges (Head Men's and Women's Track & Field Coach / 1st Year)
Coaching Mission:
- Create a championship program while helping our athletes grow personally and spiritually.
Education / Coaching Credentials:
- Eastern Kentucky University ('07) - B.S. Recreation and Park Administration
- Eastern Kentucky University ('14) - Masters of Physical Education
- United Coaching D License
Coaching Experience:
- Eastern Kentucky University Assistant Track & Field Coach (2013-2018)
- Assistant Track & Field Coach Transylvania University (2019-2022)
- Track & Field Private Coach (2019-2022)
- Assistant Track & Field Coach Bryan Station High School (2018-2019)
- Assistant Track & Field Coach Sharon High School (PA) (2008)
Track & Field Career:
- USATF Outdoor Qualifer
- NCAA All-American
- USATF U20 Qualifer
- USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams
Coaching Highlights at Transylvania University (NCAA Division III)
In his last season on the Transy staff (2021-22), Bridges mentored two first-year athletes who took home Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors in the spring. At the 2022 HCAC Outdoor Championships the Pioneers had four individual event wins, with the men’s team repeating their previous season’s all-time best finish of 3rd on the podium.
Guided by Bridges, Taylor Allen won the women’s 400m hurdles as well as the 400m dash, for the second consecutive season. Also developed by Bridges, sprinter Brett Rottinghaus took second place in both the 100m and 200m in the conference championship. Luke Stegman added to the accolades of the team with an individual discus title, also taking home the 2022 Transylvania Male Rookie of the Year award.
Coaching Highlights at Eastern Kentucky University (NCAA Division I)
At Eastern Kentucky, Bridges engineered a pattern of tremendous success for his student-athletes, working primarily with sprinters, jumpers, and multi-athletes. Bridges developed former walk-on Tequan Claitt into one of the top high jumpers in the country, who eventually shattered EKU’s 35-year old record in the high jump. Claitt’s record-setting jump of 7-5.75 at the Hilltopper relays ranked number 2 in the world in 2017, qualifying him for the USATF Outdoor Championships in California.
Under Bridges’ guidance, Claitt finished fifth in the high jump at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, becoming the program’s first indoor first team All-American in over a decade. With Bridges, Claitt won five Ohio Valley Conference high jump gold medals and became the first Colonel to be selected as the OVC Male Field Athlete of the Year, winning back-to-back honors in 2017 and 2018.
Other EKU athletes under Bridges who excelled were Yoshua Reed and Liz Marcinek; Reed became the first EKU male athlete ever to win an OVC gold in the decathlon and went on to win four more OVC multi gold medals in his career while Marcinek tied the EKU record in the women’s long jump in April 2017.
Coaching Highlights at Bryan Station High School
Bridges stamped his winning imprint at Bryan Station, leading the Defenders girls’ track and field team to a KTCCCA indoor state championship in 2019 while coaching individual state champions in the boys’ 400 meters and the girls’ 4 x 400-meter relay.
Coaching Highlights at Sharon High School
As an assistant coach for sprints and hurdles at Sharon High School, Bridges coached three athletes to the PIAA State Track and Field Championships, one in the boys’ 300-meter hurdles and two others in the 400 meters. Bridges helped coach a 4 x 400 meter relay team to third place at the state championships.
TeamAU History:
- Asbury Track & Field Head Coach (2022-Present)
Personal:
- Married to Ta'Neshia Bridges, and they have two daughters, Alyah and Talia.
- Enjoys watching movies
- Favorite Bible verse, Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."
More:
The Asbury University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced in August, 2022 that O'Brian Bridges has been named head coach for the recently announced men's and women's track and field program.
The 2023-24 Asbury track and field season led by Coach Bridges was highlighted by 14 AU student-athletes qualifying for the NCCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Columbia, S.C. AU also had five student-athletes named NCCAA 2024 Spring Scholar-Athletes (juniors, seniors, and grad students with a 3.40 GPA or above).
In Coach Bridges' first season leading Asbury men's and women's track and field in 2022-23 the Eagles sent seven student-athletes to the National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA) National Championship. Coach Bridges led Asbury runners to multiple school records throughout the season and top-ten finishes in the NCCAA Nationals.
Bridges brings a decade of coaching experience along with deep connections to central Kentucky. An accomplished sprinter and hurdler at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) from 2003-07, he later served for five years as an assistant coach for the Colonels from 2013-18. The former EKU standout's resume also includes NCAA Division III coaching experience. Bridges spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Transylvania University. Prior to joining the Transy staff, Bridges served as an assistant coach at Bryan Station High School in Lexington.
"First and foremost, I want to thank God for blessing me with this incredible opportunity," Bridges said. "I also want to thank Mark Whitworth for believing in me and entrusting me with the program. I am honored and excited to lead the track and field program at Asbury University. I look forward to creating a program at Asbury where our student-athletes excel at a championship level athletically and grow personally and spiritually in their time at the university."
"We are very grateful to have Coach Bridges leading Asbury track and field," Mark Whitworth, vice president for Intercollegiate Athletics & University Communications said. "This is a very important step in our process to build this program. We were drawn to his heart for students, along with his expertise and experience. He takes seriously the impact a coach can make in one's development spiritually, academically and competitively. O'Brian and his family are a great addition to TeamAU."
Bridges, who earned a masters at EKU and served as an adjunct professor, has focused his coaching efforts on sprints, hurdles, jumps and throws. His career is marked by an ability to train athletes to their full potential and achieving new personal bests. Under his guidance, several student-athletes have experienced national and conference success, capturing all-american honors, conference championships, all-conference and qualifying to compete in USA Track & Field (USATF) events. He has also coached individual state champions and all-state performers at the high school level.
On May 26, 2022, Asbury announced it was launching a men's and women's track and field program in the fall of 2023. Bridges, along with cross country head coach Randy Crist, will spend the next year building the rosters to field a full team competing in all track and field events.
The University is actively fundraising and planning for a multi-use outdoor venue that will include a lighted track, synthetic turf field, meeting space, locker rooms, public restrooms, and stadium seating.
A Colonel Scholar during his EKU career, Bridges ran the fastest indoor 60 meter time in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) as a senior and was a multiple-time scorer at the OVC Championships. He placed third in the 100 meters at the 2007 OVC Outdoor Track & Field Championship and was a member of the conference champion 4x100-meter relay team, which went on to qualify for the NCAA Regionals that season. He also placed fourth in the indoor 60 meters at both the 2007 and 2005 OVC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Bridges' coaching career began in his hometown of Sharon, Pa., where he served as an assistant coach at Sharon High School. He is married to Ta'Neshia Bridges, and they have two daughters.
