First-year JSU head track and field coach Jeremy Provence announced the hiring of Stephen Sousa in Feb. 2023 as the assistant coach for the Gamecocks track and field program.
Sousa joins Jax State after spending two and a half seasons at Lenoir-Rhyne University where he coached the multis, hurdles, throws and high jump event groups. Sousa, who holds his USTFCCCA Strength and Conditioning certification, also helped develop and implement strength and conditioning programs for the throws and multi-event groups.
“I am excited to have Stephen join our staff,” said JSU head coach Jeremy Provence. “He is a tireless worker and proven winner and will no doubt help elevate Jacksonville State track and field.”
During his time at LR, Sousa helped the Bears achieve new heights as a program with multiple Top-25 team National Rankings. In his stint at LR, Sousa helped build one of the best multi-event groups in the country as evidenced by their Division II men’s heptathlon squad ranking this year which would have ranked seventh in Division I, while the women’s multi-eventers came in as the sixth-ranked pentathlon group in Division II. His athletes rewrote the LR record books during his tenure, breaking 16 school records and 88 Top-10 LR marks. His top male and female multi-eventers, Jacob Wadsworth and Kennedy Conner, accounted for 10 of those school records and 28 of those Top-10 marks. Success was not limited to LR’s record books, also extending to the NCAA Championship meets with Wadsworth earning three All-American awards (2x heptathlon and long jump) and Philip Stömne (decathlon). Sousa’s athletes have walked away from four straight NCAA Championships with All-America titles and have tallied 23 NCAA provisional qualifying marks. The Lady Bears also captured the 2022 SAC Outdoor Conference Championship over now-ASUN rival Queens.
In the Covid-shortened season of 2019-20, Sousa was the Head Track & Field Coach at Wingate University where he coached the sprints, jumps, hurdles, multis and throws. Despite the abbreviated year, Sousa’s athletes still had a very successful year notching two NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the shot put and the 60m hurdles. Sousa’s standout hurdler, Javon Graham, competed at the 2020 USATF Indoor National Championships where he heartbreakingly missed out of the final by .01 seconds, taking 9th overall at the championships with a time of 7.84 seconds. Graham later set the South Atlantic Conference record en route to an individual conference title. Graham was ranked No. 2 overall in Division II for the 60m hurdles and was named All-American after NCAA’s were canceled and earned a USTFCCCA SE Regional Athlete of the Year for his dominant season.
Before his time at Wingate, Sousa served as the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field at William Peace University for their inaugural track season in 2019. The first season for the Pacers still stands as the program’s most successful season. Sousa’s athletes shined at the USA South Outdoor Championships, setting three conference records on their way to three individual titles and a 4th-place finish for the Peace men. On the Women’s side, Mariah Ballen earned herself USA South Rookie of the Year, helping the Peace Women to a 4th-place finish. Sousa guided Cortez Sawyer to the most successful season any Peace athlete has had, scoring in a staggering eight events and winning two on his way to earning the USA South Rookie of the Year award. Sawyer was also the first and only athlete in school history to qualify for the NCAA postseason in any sport when he qualified for the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 200m dash with a time of 21.49.
Sousa began his coaching career at ASUN Conference member, Queens University of Charlotte, which just recently made the move up from Div. II. While at Queens, the Royals won three SAC Championships, helped five athletes to individual SAC Championships and four NCAA All-Americans during his time in Charlotte.
In total, Sousa’s coaching career has included nine NCAA All-Americans (60m, 60mh, heptathlon, decathlon, long jump and javelin) and 37 NCAA Qualifiers (200m, 60m hurdles, 100mh, 400mh, shot put, long jump, high jump, javelin, pentathlon, heptathlon and decathlon). Sousa’s athletes have competed in nine straight NCAA Championships.
“Stephen’s resume speaks for itself,” added Provence. “When I visited with Stephen I could feel the energy and excitement that he has for coaching. He has a phenomenal track record recruiting and developing student-athletes. Stephen has experienced incredible success as an athlete as well as a coach. He understands what it takes to be successful at a championship level, which is the mindset we plan to bring to the program.”
After a successful collegiate career, Sousa battled back from ACL and meniscus tears to compete at the 2017 USATF Indoor National Championships where he took ninth in the heptathlon. As a collegian, Sousa was a combined-event standout at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he qualified for three NCAA Championships and earned two NCAA All-America honors, in the decathlon (6761) and the heptathlon (5016) while also setting school records in the heptathlon and the javelin (58.36m).
Prior to Whitewater, Sousa played football at Colorado Mesa University and San Diego Mesa College. Sousa, a San Diego native, attended Westview High School.
