St. Thomas University track coach heads to Paris Olympics to coach Haiti’s team

Joey Scott took the fast track to coaching — literally.

After a seven-year pro career as a track and field standout, Scott had designs on becoming an entrepreneur in the business world.

But his fellow track stars had other ideas.

Scott, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, retired from competing in 2007. At that time, he was living in Miami, and, almost immediately upon retirement, athletes started approaching Scott, asking him to train them.

But this was not just track athletes. Scott said football standouts, including Willis McGahee, and baseball stars, notably Alex Rodriguez, also asked for his training help.

“A lot of track guys knew I was technically sound,” Scott said. “It drew the attention of athletes who felt they were lacking technique.

“Pretty soon, I was training boxers, soccer players and other athletes in different sports.”

Most coaches who enter the industry start at the high school level or they initially work with even younger athletes.

But not Scott.

“I immediately started out training elite athletes,” Scott said.

Scott, who recently finished his first season as St. Thomas University’s head track coach, will arrive at the Paris Olympic Games on Wednsday. While in Paris, Scott will serve as the head coach for Haiti’s Olympic track team. Scott is also the personal coach of three other 2024 Olympians:

▪ Ebony Morrison, the African champ in the 110-meters hurdles, is competing for Liberia. She’s in her second Olympics. A former Miami Hurricanes star, Morrison was a semifinalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

▪ Kyron McMaster, who is competing for the British Virgin Islands, won a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

▪ Tristan James will compete for the nation of Dominica in the long jump.

Bill Rychel, who is St. Thomas University’s athletic director, promoted Scott to head coach in the summer of 2023. Prior to becoming STU’s head track coach, Scott had served as an assistant since 2017.

“He understands the mental part of track — preparing athletes to reach their peak when they need to do so,” Rychel said.

“There are a lot of athletes who want to come to St. Thomas just to be coached by him.”

Scott, 47, made his college debut in 1998 and 1999, leading Barton Community College (Kansas) to a pair of national titles. Scott was also a four-time junior college All-American, starring in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles.

From there, Scott earned a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, becoming an All-American for the Sooners.

During his pro career, Scott traveled extensively, competing in Germany, Holland and Ireland, among other countries.

“Traveling the world molded me,” Scott said. “I found myself as a person. I started to understand my abilities and my greatness.”

Now, he’s on the verge of coaching in his fifth Olympics, a list that — besides Paris — also includes London, Rio, Tokyo and Beijing.

In fact, track is such a big part of Scott’s life that his wife, Tahesia Harrigan-Scott, 42, is a former Olympian.

The first woman to represent the British Virgin Islands at the Olympics, Harrigan-Scott competed at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, winning a bronze in the 60-meter dash.

Harrigan-Scott and her husband own a gym — Tru Fit Athletics Performance Center — located in Cutler Bay.

Scott’s other passion, he said, is taking the St. Thomas University program to new heights.

“I believe in what [STU president David. A. Armstrong, J.D.] is building,” Scott said. “I believe in his vision of greatness. There is no mediocrity, and the only thing left to do is to be great.”