Steve Ray, a veteran of the coaching ranks, joined Jacksonville State in 2005 after a thirteen-year stint at Carthage College (NCAA Div. III) in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In his 12 seasons at the head of the Gamecock Cross Country and Track and Field programs he has led them to six NCAA Regional appearances and continues to look toward building on that success.
Ray's squads have not only achieved new parallels on the track as JSU has been tabbed by the USTFCCCA as an All-Academic Team in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017. To be honored by the coaches’ organization, teams must post a 3.0 or better cumulative grade point average. Individually, junior Natasha Sturkie was named an Academic All-American in 2011 by the USTFCCCA.
Additionally, JSU has seen 54 women’s cross country student-athletes and 34 men’s cross country student-athletes have been named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll with a 3.25 GPA or better Under Ray’s watch, a total of 124 track and field student-athletes have been named to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Most recently, Baylee Porch and Selena Tarvin were honored with the OVC Academic Medal of Honor with 4.0’s during the 2016-17 academic year.
In the 2017 track and field season, Ray’s Gamecocks secured a seventh-place finish in the OVC Indoor Championship, led by Courtney Bennett’s first-place outing in the shot put. The field events paced JSU most of the 2017 campaign, in the outdoor conference champion, JSU won gold and silver in the javelin throw courtesy of the freshmen dup of Marcelly Balentina and Greta Romei. JSU maintained its seventh-place finish similar to the indoor season.
In the spring of 2016, JSU track and field turned in a strong finish at the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships as the squad set many individual program marks during the outdoor season, which was capped off by solid marks at the OVC Outdoor Championships. The Gamecocks placed sixth in the team standings after posting 65 total points. Ray had nine individuals score points at the OVC meet, including many contributions from the field events. Whitley Towns and Courtney Bennett re-wrote the Jax State outdoor record book as Towns set the program mark in two different events on multiple occasions throughout the season. Towns established a new mark in the 800 meter run and the 1500 meter event. She became the first Gamecock to medal at the OVC Championships in the 1500 meter after claiming bronze in the event. Bennett highlighted the field events throughout the season with new program marks in the discus and shot put. She set the new standard in the shot put en route to claiming silver in the event at the 2016 OVC Championships.
In 2015, Ray’s squad was a young squad that showed progress throughout season and showed insight to what the future held for the program. A trio of Gamecock freshmen earned spots on the medal stand at the 2015 OVC Outdoor Championships in three different events and the freshmen on the squad accumulated 27.5 of the team's 40.5 point total. Jax State finished eighth in the final standings. Alyssa Leyendecker broke the program’s hammer mark at the OVC event with a mark of 173’ 7 ½”.
The 2014 campaign was highlighted by distance runner Erika Stam and sprinter Shamika Barrett. Stam, who holds the all-time mark in the 5000 meter event and 10,000 meter event, established both of those marks in 2014. Her new mark in the 10,000 broke a nine-year old mark as the previous record was set in 2005 by Sarah Caine. Barrett added her name to JSU;s list of individual OVC Champions as she breezed through the finals of the 100 meter event to win the title and returned to the track to win gold in the 200 meter event.
Ray’s 2013 squad finished seventh at the OVC Outdoor Championships – a finish that was powered by Jax state’s sprinters and relay teams. JSU’s 4x100 meter relay team reached the medal stand with a third place finish. The Gamecocks posted their final points of the postseason by winning the 4x400 meter relay for the third consecutive year. JSU’s team posted the best time of the season in the OVC with a winning time of 3:44.34.
For the second straight year, Ray mentored his team to a fourth place finish at the 2012 OVC Outdoor Championships, matching the mark set by the 2011 squad. JSU finished with 111 total points and just one point behind Murray State, who claimed silver. The Gamecocks had a trio of competitors at the NCAA Regional, including the twin sister duo of Latasha Sturkie and Natasha Sturkie. Barrett also earned a spot in the NCAA Regional field in the 200 meter event.
In the spring of 2011, Ray guided the Jax State outdoor track and field team to new program heights as a strong Gamecock contingent earned spots in the NCAA East Regional. JSU sent five individuals to the postseason event and for the first time in the program's history, both the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams garnered postseason competition spots. Under Ray in 2011, JSU's Laveeta Oliver was named the OVC's Female Athlete of the Year for the outdoor and indoor season. Barrett was honored by the league with the Freshman of the Year accolades.
Ray has guided the men’s cross country team to multiple NCAA Regionals and a runner-up finish at the 2007 OVC Championships, the best in school history. He took the women’s team to their first-ever NCAA Regional in 2006 and led the track and field team to a second place finish, its highest ever, at the 2006 OVC Outdoor Championships. Since arriving at JSU he has coached 60 All-OVC athletes, 32 OVC Athletes of the Week, six individual conference champions, five individual NCAA Regional qualifiers, the 2007 OVC Field Athlete of the Year in Andrea Arnaud and the 2009 Freshman of the Year David Nilsson.
After earning a Master’s of Education degree at Florida State, Ray returned to his home state of Arkansas and spent his first six-years coaching in the high school ranks. He started the cross country programs at both Pea Ridge and Eureka Springs where his boys’ teams won the 1985, 1986 and 1987 state cross country titles. In the process, his athletes also captured four individual cross country titles.
Ray’s first collegiate position was at the University of Arkansas-Monticello where he proceeded to lead the Boll Weevils to a two fifth place finishes at the NAIA indoor and outdoor national championships. His athletes claimed a total of fifteen All-American honors during his tenure and two athletes earned four individual national titles under his tutelage. Wanting to coach the female athlete as well, Ray departed UA-Monticello for Lyon College, where he had two female athletes earn All-American honors during his stint.
In 1992 he landed a graduate assistantship at Auburn University. Ray credits much of his sprint, hurdle and jump knowledge to his days spent on the Plains interacting with Coach Mel Rosen (Head Men’s Coach - 1992 U.S. Olympic Team) and members of his staff, which included former 100-meter world record holder Harvey Glance.
Once his academic program was completed at Auburn, Ray took over the men’s and women’s cross country and track programs at Carthage. The tiny Div. III program had had little success in track and field prior to his arrival, but that all changed in short time. His women’s teams demonstrated the most success, rising from the last place team in the CCIW to win the conference outdoor titles in 2003 and 2004. And, his Lady Reds captured every official indoor title that was contested between 2000-2005.
While at Carthage, Ray produced 73 All-Amercians and nine individual national champions to go with the winning 400 meter relay team in 2003. In 2004, hurdle sensation Sheana Grigsby became the school’s and conference’s first and only winner of the National Female Track & Field Athlete-of-the-Year award. Ray was honored as well, winning the NCAA Midwest Regional Coach of the Year in both 2002 and 2003, and remains the only coach from the CCIW to have ever won the honor.
Ray earned his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education from Henderson State University, where he was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 2006, after rewriting the Reddie record book as a four-time all-conference selection who became the school's first runner to qualify for the NAIA Cross Country championships all four years. Overall, he won 56 individual cross country and track races during his HSU career. He later earned a Master’s of Science in Exercise Physiology from Florida State in 1980, and has an A.B.D. from Auburn in Athletic Administration.
Ray and his wife Ronda, both natives of Marked Tree, Ark., reside in Jacksonville and have two children. Their son Will is a musical-theatre performer living in New York City, while their daughter Lori teaches elementary school in Chicago, Ill.
