Fred Kerley Coach

Fred Kerley is an American Olympian, who has qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in track and field. He hails from San Antonio, Texas, and is an alumnus of the Texas A&M University. He is the son of Ricky and Virginia Kerley, with two brothers and two sisters. Adopted by his aunt Virginia as a toddler, she remains the most influential person in his life. Fred began seriously pursuing the sport after encouragement from his family and participated in the Texas A&M track team, where he ran alongside his younger brother, Mylik.

Fred Kerley enjoys his hobbies of sleeping, cooking, and shopping. As an athlete, Kerley earned a silver medal in the 100m event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, along with an 8th place finish in the 4 x 100m Relay. His World Championships experience includes recent gold in the 4 x 100m Relay (2023), and he has accumulated a total of 6 medals (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) over various events since 2017.

Fred Kerley Coach

Fred Kerley, the 100-meter World Champion in 2022 and three-time World Champion, announced a significant change in his coaching less than a year before the Paris Olympics. On September 26, 2023, Kerley revealed he would be training under Quincy Watts, the Director of Track and Field at the University of Southern California (USC).

Watts, an Olympic 400m gold medalist from 1992, is renowned for his coaching success with sprinters like Michael Norman and Rai Benjamin at USC. Kerley, a standout sprinter from the USA, has an impressive track record, including a recent gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the World Championships in Budapest, a 100m world title in 2022, and a 4x400m relay gold in 2019. Additionally, he earned a silver medal in the 100m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Kerley, who set an NCAA record in the 400m in 2017 while at Texas A&M, is optimistic about this new coaching partnership as he prepares for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Quincy Watts is the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country at the University of Southern California (USC), a position he has held since June 17, 2021. With ten seasons at USC, he has guided athletes to 104 indoor and outdoor All-America honors, 20 NCAA titles, and 33 Pac-12 crowns, while setting three collegiate records and 28 school records. In 2023, he led the men’s and women’s teams to second-place finishes at the Pac-12 Championships, achieving nine event titles and 60 indoor and outdoor Trojan all-time top 10 results. The 2022 season saw his athletes set five school records, including standout performances in the 60m, weight throw, and relays.

Watts was named USTFCCCA National Outdoor Women's Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021. He has coached elite athletes like Michael Norman, Rai Benjamin, Kendall Ellis, Anna Cockrell, Kyra Constantine, Bailey Lear, and Jan’Taijah Jones. Before his coaching career, Watts was a prominent USC athlete, excelling in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, and setting a meet record in the 1992 NCAA 400-meter race, that stood for nearly 25 years. He also ran the anchor leg on USC's 4x400-meter relay team setting a school record. Watts’ coaching career includes positions at CS Northridge and Harvard-Westlake High School, with a primary focus on sprinters, long hurdles, and relay teams.

Fred Kerley's Previous Coach

Fred Kerley was previously coached by Alleyne Francique. Francique is a former Grenadian sprinter who specialized in the 400 meters and has a distinguished coaching career, having coached several top athletes in track and field.

Francique was born on June 7, 1976, in St. Andrew's, Grenada, and had a successful athletic career, representing Grenada in the 1996, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics. He achieved notable success, including winning two gold medals in the 400 meters at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in 2004 and 2006. Francique also earned a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games, a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and another silver medal at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games.