Garfield Ellenwood joined the Maryland Track and Field coaching staff in the fall of 2021 and serves as the assistant coach for jumps and hurdles.
Ellenwood brings twenty years of proven success. Most recently, he served as the associate head coach at Alabama State where the men captured the 2021 SWAC indoor conference championship while the women’s team captured the 2021 SWAC outdoor team championship. Ellenwood's high coaching quality can be seen through the success of his student athletes, as he has coached a number of Division I first team All-Americans and NCAA Champions throughout his coaching career.
In 2021 Ellenwood led Tionna Brown to freshman of the year honors. During the indoor championships she also broke the SWAC indoor 60m record (7.31). Outdoor the men and women's sprint squad swept the short sprint events (100m & 200m) at the conference championships. David East set the men’s 100m school record (10.16) while Tionna Brown set the freshman 100m record (11.26).
Prior to his time at Alabama State, Ellenwood led the NC A&T women’s program to their first ever MEAC team championship in 2017. The women’s team earned both indoor and outdoor team titles. Ellenwood’s athletes also accounted for 121 of the 155 points scored indoor and 113 of the 138 scored outdoor.
Throughout his time coaching, Ellenwood has coached and mentored thirteen NCAA Division I first team All-Americans in sprint and hurdle events as well as three National Champions, one of which was a three-time champion in the sprint hurdles. Before his arrival to NC A&T, Ellenwood spent two years at Mississippi State (2011-13) where he coached Thirteen All- SEC performers, twelve East Regional qualifiers and ten NCAA final round qualifiers. During that time at Mississippi state, he also coached DeAngelo Cherry to becoming an NCAA 60m champion in 2013. Prior to his time at Mississippi State, he led the Bethune-Cookman University men and women’s programs. During the 2008 outdoor season he led the women’s 4x100m relay to the NCAA final round (first women to ever compete for B-CU at the NCAA Division I Championships in track & field) and Ronnie Ash to a third-place finish in the 110h. In 2009, Ellenwood made history by guiding 11 total athletes to the NCAA final round, the most from any one HBCU in NCAA Division I history. Ronnie Ash captured back to back NCAA sprint hurdle Championships and the Men’s team captured a top 25 team finish of #23 for at the NCAA outdoor track & field Championships.
Prior to B-CU Ellenwood served as an assistant coach at UNLV, where he would lead the women’s program to garner national attention. In 2006 Ellenwood led Ashley Owens (personal best of 7.19) to the NCAA 60m runner up. During the 2006 indoor and outdoor season Christine Spence earned a total of three NCAA first team All-American honors while Halima DeCree (personal best of 11.25) also earned first team NCAA All-American honors.
Prior to his time at UNLV, Ellenwood began his coaching career at Campbell University. He served as the assistant sprint and jump coach. In 2002 while under Ellenwood Eric Bergemann captured Campbell University’s first NCAA DI All-American honor in the high jump.
Internationally, Ellenwood also has a strong history of leading athletes to Olympic successes. He guided two athletes to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Ronnie Ash to his first and Jeff Porter to his second Olympic Games (London 2012) in the 110h. In 2015 Ronnie Ash earned a #9 world ranking in the 110h and Sharika Nelvis earned a #2 world ranking and the fastest time in the world (12.34) in the 100h, both were members of Team USA Beijing World Championship Team, and both were coached by Ellenwood.
The Tokyo Olympics also marked Ellenwood's fifth consecutive Olympics where he had a competing athlete. Ellenwood guided Christina Clemons to earning her first Olympic experience this summer and set a personal record of 12.51 in the 100 hurdles. Ellenwood also served as Clemons’ personal coach as she would become the #7 World ranked hurdler.
During the 2012 indoor season he led Gloria Asumnu (personal best 7.07) to an Indoor World Championship fifth-place finish in the 60m. In 2008 Ellenwood would lead Angela Williams (personal best & fastest time in the world of 7.06) to the 2008 Indoor World Championships 60m World title. In 2008 Ellenwood was also named Head coach of the Liberian National and 2008 Beijing Olympic Team.
Prior to coaching, Ellenwood also had a very successful collegiate athletic career which would see him earning Junior College All-American honors three times with Essex County College, as well as earning two All-American honors and five big east titles at Seton Hall. Competing with the track and field program, he set the Big East and Seton Hall records in the 55-meter dash, as well as finishing third in the event during the 1997 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. He would also graduate from Essex County College with an Associates degree in Physical Education and Seton Hall with a bachelor's degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Garfield and his wife Joyce Ellenwood, have two children – daughter Diamond Ellenwood (2015 graduate of Mississippi State), son Chadwick Ellenwood and granddaughter Aubree Brown.
