Zac Ball is entering his third year as Towson’s recruiting coordinator and throws coach.
"We are excited to have Coach Ball here at TU," Jackson said. "He did an outstanding job at Northwood and is highly recommended by his peers. He brings great energy and I'm confident that he will be a great asset to our program!"
This past season, Ball saw Lauren Coleman be named an All-American after being the first student-athlete to qualify for the NCAA Indoor championships in the shot put.
He also helped coach the Tigers to their first-ever ECAC indoor title where
Michella Obijiaku was named Women's Performer of the meet after setting a new school record and meet record in the weight throw (20.66m / 67'9.50"), which also broke the Italian national record.
Elisia Lancaster finished in second with a throw of 19.67m.
Ball had an impactful first year as a throwing coach for the Tigers. Under his guidance, Towson qualified 10 athletes in 15 events between indoor and outdoor ECACs, had 21 marks that made the all-time top 10 in program history, scored in all four events at the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championships highlighted by four athletes combining for 18 points in the hammer throw.
Those contributions helped Towson finish third at the ECAC Indoor Championships, second at the ECAC Outdoor Championships and second at the CAA championships. The ECAC finishes were the best in program history.
Individually, Ball helped several student-athletes achieve personal bests and numerous individual accolades.
Michella Obijiaku was named Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Outstanding Female Athlete of the Meet, CAA Female Field Athlete of the Year, won a pair of gold medals at the CAA championships in the hammer throw and shot put (a meet record 16.23 meter), won the shot put at the Italian under 23 championships and finished ninth at U23 European championships while competing for Italy.
Obijiaku and Phontavia Sawyer both qualified for the NCAA East Region Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Florida. Obijiaku also won the ECAC indoor championship in the weight throw with a school and British National Record mark of 19.76 meters. Obijiaku also finished second in the ECAC indoor championships in the shot put. Obijiaku also won the hammer throw at the Penn Relays.
Sawyer set a school record in the discus while finishing in the top five of the championship section at the Penn Relays.
In addition, he coached Georgia Coleman, who finished sixth in the hammer throw after establishing a freshman record at the USATF under 20 championships. Coleman was Towson’s first field athlete in program history to compete in the USATF under 20 championships. She also set a freshman record in the weight throw.
Ball arrived to Towson from Northwood University where he was an assistant coach for three years. At Northwood, Ball focused on throws and was the strength and conditioning coach for the throwers, middle and long distance runners. While at Northwood he also was the director of operations for both the cross country and track and field teams.
Ball coached three athletes to six school records as well as eight NCAA provisional standard marks. Two of his runner’s broke school records in the 1,000 meters, while another broke the program record in discus by over ten feet and was ranked No. 23 in the country. He guided 11 of his student-athletes to rewrite the program's top 10 all-time list in multiple categories.
Ball in total coached his athletes to break school records a total of nine times and coached athletes to six appearances at the NCAA Championships with Paul Evans finishing as sixth in the country in the weight throw with a school record toss of 20.11 meters.
"During his time at Northwood, Zac Ball totally revamped our throws program, turning our student-athletes into conference and National contenders, while building the numbers in our program," said Norwood Athletic Director Dave Marsh. "He has great rapport with the student-athletes as well as the rest of the staff. He will definitely be missed at Northwood and we know he will bring success to the Towson throws programs."
Before arriving at Northwood he was a celebrated hammer and weight thrower at Ashland University. Ball was a six-time All-American in the hammer and weight throw. In 2014 he won the Indoor GLIAC Championship and received several weekly accolades for his accomplishments
Ball was a two-year team captain for the Eagles and he made six trips to the podium at NCAA's, twice as runner ups. He ranks top-10 all-time in NCAA history in the weight throw, and his mark of 21.89 ranks him as the ninth best thrower in Division II history.
"Zac Ball went from walk on to scholarship and eventually team captain," said Ashland University head track and field coach Jud Logan. "His ability to want to learn my system and add his own twists to things, put him on the fast track. It is my opinion that he is one of the most passionate young coaches in the country and will leave an indelible mark of excellence."
The South Amherst, Ohio native graduated with a bachelor of science degree in exercise science with minors in religion, coaching and nutrition in 2015. Coach Ball resides in Baltimore MD with his girlfriend Carly.
