Head coach Phil Olson is in his eighth season as the SFA head track and field coach. During his time in Nacogdoches, Olson has built SFA into a perennial contender in the Southland Conference, as well as a program that is respected on the national level. Olson's tenure has brought a combined 11 SLC team titles in cross country and track and field. Over the last five seasons, 16 of Olson's athletes have competed in the NCAA Championships, including one Lumberjack who competed at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Despite injuries to key personnel on both the men's and women's side, Olson guided his team through another successful season and once again had SFA in the mix among the league's upper echelon. During the 2007 indoor season Olson's troops recorded 18 All-SLC selections, three conference individual champions and set two school records. SFA only added to that total during the outdoor season posting 21 NCAA regional qualifying marks, setting 14 school records, recording 13 All-SLC honors and one individual champion. Along with all that, junior Leah Matthews became the 16th SFA athlete in the past five seasons to advance to the NCAA Championships. She earned all-region honors by finishing second overall in the long jump, which qualified her for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

All told in 2007 SFA recorded 31 All-SLC honors, 21 NCAA regional qualifying marks, set 16 school records, recorded four conference individual titles, and had one athlete earn all-region honors and advance to the NCAA Championships.

Olson's throwers were a big part of SFA's success last season. Olson's throwers set 14 school records, eight all-conference honors, recorded eight NCAA regional qualifying marks and Kenneth McKinley won his third career SLC individual title with a NCAA regional mark of 56-8.75 in the shot put.

In 2006, the Ladyjacks continued their domination winning the SLC indoor title. The title marked the second consecutive indoor title for the SFA women. The Ladyjacks recorded seven All-SLC performances and two SLC individual titles at the meet.

Three SFA athletes made an impact at the national level during the 2006 season. Crystal Chang finished 12th in the pentathlon during the indoor season, and followed that up by finishing 26th in the country in heptathlon. Reggie Lazenby competed at nationals in the outdoor long jump, and Stevina Wyatt competed in the 400-meter hurdles.

The 2005 campaign was a year to remember for Olson and the SFA program. It started with the program's first-ever sweep of the SLC Indoor Championships. The wins marked the first indoor title for the women's team and the first-ever SLC track and field crown ever for the men. The two squads combined to win eight individual championships and earn 20 All-SLC awards. Olson was named the SLC Indoor Men's and Women's Coach of the Year. The pair of awards came two years after Olson was named SLC Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year and USTCA South Central District Women's Coach of the Year.

SFA continued its winning ways in the fall, when the Lumberjack cross country team earned its fifth straight SLC title. The Ladyjack team turned in a strong second-place finish, and SFA posted individual championships in both races. The teams combined for seven all-conference honorees and won both SLC Athlete of the Year awards. Ashley Monteau became the fifth SFA athlete in the previous three years to qualify for the national cross country race.

Under Olson's watch, SFA has produced 269 All-SLC performances, won 75 SLC individual titles and set 146 new school records and 21 NCAA qualifiers.

Olson's teams also achieve in the classroom. SFA has produced eight Academic All-Americans in the last six years, and former distance runner Rodney Joseph was twice named SLC Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year.

With coaching responsibilities distributed among a staff of four full-time coaches and a graduate assistant, Olson concentrates on the SFA throwers. The throws program has posted 12 NCAA qualifying marks, 52 NCAA regional qualifying marks, won 11 SLC individual titles, earned 35 All-SLC honors and set 37 school records.

In 2005, four of Olson's athletes finished the year ranked in the Top 50 among NCAA Division I competition. Sarah Emerson's mark of 161-02 in the javelin ranked 19th in the nation, and Kenneth McKinley's throw of 59-07.50 in the shot put was good enough for 36th in the country. Wade Whittington and Markeshia Edwards each recorded a No. 50 performance, Whittington in the javelin (208-07) and Edwards in the shot put (49-01). All four athletes advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in their respective events. McKinley and Edwards combined to sweep the SLC men's and women's shot put titles at the outdoor meet.

Olson came to SFA in 2000 as the head coach of the Lumberjack program. The following season, Olson was named head coach for both the SFA men's and women's teams. Olson brought home the first track and field title in school history in 2003, when he guided the Ladyjacks to the SLC Outdoor Title. Since then, SFA has accumulated three more team championships -- a sweep of the 2005 SLC Indoors -- five second-place showings and four third-place finishes. The men's and women's cross country programs also have combined for seven championships during Olson's tenure.

Prior to taking over at SFA, Olson spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia, where he directed the throws program. While at Virginia, Olson recruited, developed and coached 21 NCAA Division I qualifiers, 19 Atlantic Coast Conference Champions, eight school record-holders, four All-Americans, four Olympic Trials qualifiers, three ACC record-holders and an American and collegiate record-holder.

From 1990 to 1993, Olson was an assistant coach in the women's track and field program at Clemson, where he was part of two conference championship teams. Olson also coached an NCAA All-American and an Olympic Trials qualifier in the shot put, as well as ACC Champions in the shot put, discus and javelin.

Olson received his master's degree in sports medicine from Virginia in 1990. He and his wife, Donna, an athletic trainer in Lufkin, have two children, Addie and Tobie.