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UTEP Miners

UTEP Miners
Green, Francesca

Francesca Green

Francesca Green was announced as UTEP’s Track and Field and Cross Country Head Coach on July 15, 2025. She became the eighth head coach in the history of the illustrious Miner Track and Field program.
 
Green spent the past 21 years on the Athletics staff at the University of Arizona, including the last 20 with the Wildcats’ track and field program. In that capacity, she served as Director of Operations (2005-09), Assistant Coach for Sprints and Relays (2009-21), and Associate Head Coach (2021-25). 
 
During her stint with the Wildcats, Green coached 20 NCAA All-Americans, 30 National Qualifiers, 17 School Record-Holders, four Pac-12 champions, one Big 12 champion, two Olympians and five Olympic Trials Qualifiers.
 
Highlights from her Arizona tenure included the sprint team’s 2025 campaign, highlighted by Trayvon White-Austin winning the Big 12 Indoor 200m title (20.50) and qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships while finishing as a second-team All-American. Jade Brown broke the indoor school record in the 60m (7.23) and McKenna Watson broke the indoor school records in the 300m (38.03) and the 200m (23.23). Isaac Davis posted an indoor school record in the 600yd at the Big 12 Championships, running a time of 1:09.35. The campaign also featured a record-breaking outdoor season by Jade Brown in the 100m, running 11.05 to shatter a record held for 25 years by Brianna Glenn. Brown also ran anchor on the school record (43.99) 4x100m relay at the NCAA Championships First Round with Ava Simms, Watson, and Dakota Minor. Simms also ran a personal best time of 52.47, placing her seventh on the all-time top 10 list. The outdoor season was also highlighted by Brian Limage posting a Haitian National Record time of 20.50 in the 200m, as well as running on the 4x100m relay (38.89). Personal bests were also set by James Onanubosi in the 100m (10.28) and Tyson Tippett in the 100m (10.19). Limage, Tippett and Onanubosi were also point scores at the Big 12 Championships. 
 
The 2024 season saw Trayvion White-Austin, Limage, Onanubosi and Tippett earning second team All-America honors for their efforts in the men’s 4x100m relay. The team clocked in with a school-record time of 38.75 at the NCAA Championships. White-Austin also competed in both the 100 and 200m at the NCAA Championships, and broke the school record in the 100 during the outdoor season with a time of 10.14. Additionally, Brown set a new Arizona freshman record in the 100m with a time of 11.53. She later competed for Team USA at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, as a member of the 4x100m relay. The sprint team totaled twelve top 10 performances in school history and had seven scorers at the Pac-12 Championships during the outdoor season. In the indoor season, White-Austin also broke school records in the 60m (6.63) and 200m (20.69). 
 
Green’s 2023 season was highlighted by the men’s 4x100m team of White-Austin, Limage, Carl Hicks and Onanubosi breaking a 33-year-old school record. They did so at the NCAA West First Round, winning the event with a time of 38.82 and qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where they placed 18th overall. Another highlight was White-Austin breaking the school record in the indoor 200m with a time of 20.44. At the outdoor Pac-12 Championships, Green coached four scorers for the Wildcats -- White-Austin who placed third in the 200m, the men’s 4x100m team who placed fourth, the men’s 4x400m team who placed fifth, and the women’s 4x400m team who placed seventh. 
 
In 2021 and 2022, Green coached her athletes to several accomplishments including four NCAA Championship qualifiers, four first team All-Americans, two school records, one conference champion and a U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier. At the NCAA Championships, the men's 4x400 relay team of Johnnie Blockburger, Calvin Wilson, Isaac Davis and Umajesty Williams broke the school record with a time of 3:03.58. Running the anchor leg, Blockburger also had a historic freshman season, breaking the 400m school record with a time of 44.71, making him the first Wildcat to run under 45 seconds. That effort stands as the ninth-best all-time U20 time in the world and the fourth-best in the U.S.  He went on to claim the Pac-12 400m title (45.57). He qualified for the NCAA Championships where he ran 46.40, and went on to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials where he recorded a time of 46.75. Blockburger also ran PRs of 20.70 (200m) and 10.28 (100m) to place in Arizona's all-time top 10 in both races. He was named the Pac-12 Men's Freshman of the Year. Another member of the school record relay team, Williams moved up to number five on Arizona's all-time 400m list, clocking in at 45.76 at the NCAA West Prelims. On the women's side, Neysia Howard ran two season-best times in the 100m (11.73) and 200m (23.72) races.
 
From 2009-20, Green coached numerous athletes with personal best marks, school records, and NCAA qualifying times. In 2016, the women’s 4x400 meter relay also flourished under her direction, taking eighth place at NCAA Indoors for second team All-America recognition.
 
Green’s administrative responsibilities as Associate Head Coach at UA included budget oversight, as well as team liaison to the academics, compliance, medical services, media relations, Alumni Events and equipment departments. 
 
She also brings experience on the international circuit, having served as an assistant coach for Team USA and USA Track and Field at the Pan American Games in 2009. Green was head manager for Team USA and USA Track and Field at the World Championships in Russia, China and Poland from 2013-15.
 
She started her collegiate coaching career as Assistant Coach for Sprints and Relays at Washington State from 2000-03. While in Pullman, she coached four NCAA All-Americans, three Pac-10 champions, six national qualifiers and three school record-holders. In 2003, she coached the 4x400-meter relay team that took seventh place at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In 2002, two of her sprinters competed at the NCAA Championships, as Anson Henry finished third in the 60 meters indoors, and Anthony Buchanan ran the 100 meters outdoors.
 
She was Volunteer Jumps and Sprints Coach at Purdue from 2003-04 while training for the 2004 Olympic Trials in the long jump. She began her long run at Arizona as a Marketing Associate in 2004.
 
Green was one of the most versatile and decorated track and field athletes in Washington State history. She captured Pac-10 long jump titles outdoors in 1996 and 1998, and earned All-America honors in the long jump at the 1996 NCAA Outdoor and 1997 NCAA Indoor Championships. 
 
A sprinter as well as a competitor in the high, long and triple jump events, she scored 21.5 of the Cougars’ 123 points at the 1999 Pac-10 Outdoor Championships. She ran the anchor leg of WSU’s record-setting 4x100-meter relay team in 1999. She also excelled in the classroom, garnering placement on the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America Team (District VII), the Pac-10 All-Academic Team, and earning Senior Excellence in Academics honors.
 
In 1996, Green was a member of Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Sydney, Australia.  
 
Her Academic, Leadership, and Athletics honors also include:
 
  • 2004 NCAA Ethnic Minority Female Leadership Institute Graduate
  • 1999-2000 Track and Field Team Captain at Washington State
  • 2000 Recipient of the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American Award
  • 2000 Member of Pac-10 All-Academic Team
  • 2000 Recipient of the Eagle Hardware & Garden Academic Salute Award
  • 2000 Student-Athlete Advisory Board Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete Award
  • 1999 Student-Athlete Advisory Board President
  • 1999 Recipient of the Arthur Ashe Sports Scholars award for scholarship, athleticism, and humanitarianism
  • 1999 Recipient of the Dr. Nell Jackson Memorial Graduate Assistant Scholarship
  • 1998 and 1999 Most Valuable Player for the women’s track and field team at Washington State
  • 1997 and 1999 Recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Leadership and Service
  • 1997 Recipient in recognition of excellence in the African American community
 
A native of Kennewick, Wash., Green received her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from Washington State in 1998. She added a Master of Education degree in Athletic Administration from WSU in 2000.
 
What They're Saying About Francesca Green
 
“I have mentored Francesca as an athlete, department employee in Marketing, Director of Operations for Track & Field and Cross Country, and as the Associate Head Coach at the University of Arizona. She has been groomed and she’s ready to run her own program. I’m like a proud dad and can’t wait to support her in everything she needs to continue the fantastic tradition in El Paso.”
·       Fred Harvey, Coach Emeritus, Track and Field and Cross Country, University of Arizona
 
“Jim Senter and UTEP Athletics have made an excellent choice in Francesca Green as the next Head Track and Field Coach. I have known Francesca as her college coach at Washington State University, as my assistant coach at Purdue University, and have followed her extensive success at the University of Arizona. She has excelled at every level of track and field.  Francesca is not only an exceptional coach and person, but is also such a positive role model for young men and women.” 
·       Lissa Olson, former head men’s and women’s track and field coach and current assistant coach at University of Cal Berkeley 
 
“I have known Francesca Green as a student-athlete, a coach and a friend since 1996.  She has consistently demonstrated leadership, a strong work ethic, and a willingness to learn and improve to become the outstanding coach she is today.  The cross country and track and field programs at The University of Texas at El Paso are in good hands under the leadership of Coach Green.” 
·       Rick Sloan, Former Track and Field Head Coach, Washington State University