NEW YORK - Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Daniel Ireland has announced a new addition to his coaching staff. Official as of Tuesday afternoon, Lawrence Johnson has been named an Assistant Track & Field coach and will oversee Columbia's multi event athletes and pole vaulters.

"We are extremely excited to have Lawrence 'Lojo' Johnson join our track and field program," Ireland said. "He is one of the best pole vaulters in US and World history. He will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our coaching staff. I am very excited for our men's and women's pole vaulters and multi event athletes to begin working with him."
 
Johnson has nearly a quarter of a century of experience as a professional athlete and coach at the high school, university, and international levels in the pole vault and multi-events. His achievements include participating in three Olympic Games, where he placed 8th in Atlanta ('96), won a silver medal in Sydney ('00), and served as a coach for the decathlon ('24).
 
In October 2023, Lawrence Johnson relocated to Puerto Rico for a year to train a Puerto Rican Olympic hopeful for the 2024 Olympic Games. In that spring, decathlete Ayden Owens-Delerme set a new Puerto Rican national record, a Caribbean Islands record, and achieved a world-leading performance at the Mt. Sac Relays while qualifying for the Olympics.
 
From 2008 to 2011, as an Assistant Coach at the University of South Carolina, LoJo coached the pole vault, producing an NCAA champion, two SEC champions, five All-Americans, over 20 NCAA qualifiers and additions to the men's and women's pole vault school records and top performers.
 
As a club or private coach, Johnson has coached numerous high school nationals finalists and qualifiers, over ten state champions, and many school record holders since 2009.
 
In his personal career as an athlete, Lawrence "LoJo" Johnson was a two-time high school national champion, a seven-time SEC champion (including a decathlon title), a four-time NCAA champion, and held the all-time NCAA record for nearly a quarter of a century. He was also an American indoor and outdoor record holder, a seven-time U.S. national champion, a two-time Olympian, an Olympic silver medalist, and a world champion in the pole vault. LoJo's best performance in the pole vault was 5.98 meters (19' 7¾").
 
Lawrence "LoJo" Johnson is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in Sport Management.

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