Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Pole Vault/Throws)/Meet Director
- Email:
- jlangley@uncaa.unc.edu
- Phone:
- 919-962-5222
Josh Langley enters his seventh season at the University of North Carolina, his first as Assistant Head Coach, coaching the multis, javelin, and pole vault while assisting with training the Tar Heel throwing corps. Prior to joining the Tar Heels, Langley owns 11 years of coaching experience including years at his alma maters Western Carolina and Gardner-Webb as well as at Clemson.
“A quick look at the body of work that Josh has composed throughout his coaching career, and perhaps it’s obvious why I am excited to see Josh take on the role of Assistant Head Track and Field Coach here at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” Meaders said.” Under his guidance athletes have excelled in nearly every discipline that our sport has to offer. Josh has a comprehensive knowledge base and a proven ability to teach young men and women. Above and beyond that, Josh has consistently demonstrated character and the highest degree of moral fiber. He has embraced each of our guiding principles but embodies the principal of helping our student-athletes grow as individuals. I am delighted that Josh, in this new capacity, will continue to help me and the rest of the staff write the next chapter for Carolina track and field and cross country.”
Langley coaches the multis, pole-vaulters, javelin, and Avana Story in the throws. Nearly every student-athlete under his guidance set a personal record in 2015. His athletes earned 44.5 of the 62.5 points that the women’s team scored at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, a large reason in why Langley was named the Southeast Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year for the indoor season.
Among his athletes who had a stellar year in 2015 was Xenia Rahn. Rahn was a headline for the track and field teammate throughout the entire year as she smashed all the school and conference records for the pentathlon and heptathlon. Under Langley’s guidance, Rahn was the ACC Champion in the pentathlon and heptathlon and earned First Team All-America nods twice last year, including a third-place finish in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Her performance in the national meet made her become the seventh-best individual to ever compete in the pentathlon in NCAA history. The other female multis each posted personal records in their events throughout the year.
Langley also coached Paul Haley to a breakout year. Haley improved his heptathlon mark considerably and became ACC Champion in the heptathlon during the indoor season. Haley was narrowly edged out for a final spot at the NCAA Indoor National Championships. In his last collegiate competition, Ryan Ramsey scored an all-time personal best score in the heptathlon with help from Langley, and earned all-conference honors for finishing third.
Langley guided Cameron Overstreet to a school record in 2015. Overstreet broke the indoor pole vault record by clearing 13-11 in her final indoor home meet of her collegiate career. She placed second at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships earning all-conference. Redshirt freshman Brittany hull consistently cleared 13-0 and ended up finishing fourth in the indoor pole vault at the conference meet. Overstreet had previously earned All-America honors during the 2013 outdoor season. Langley coached Overstreet during a jump-off at the NCAA East Preliminary Round in which Overstreet won that allowed her to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Langley is a 2003 graduate of Western Carolina where began his coaching career with the Catamounts. He was an outstanding javelin thrower at WCU and was a member of two Southern Conference championship teams in 1999.
Langley received his master’s degree in Sport Science/Pedagogy from Gardner-Webb in 2005, where he also coached for a three-year period from 2004-06. He coached 49 all-conference selections and five regional qualifiers in his three seasons at Gardner-Webb. The Bulldogs won the 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference men’s outdoor title. Langley helped coach the Bulldogs to the 2006 Atlantic Sun Championship title, and his throwers scored 92 points at the championship meet, including Cody MacArthur who was named Field Event Performer of the Year. In 2005, GWU jumper Jake Didion was named Freshman of the Year in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Langley coached at Clemson from the fall of 2006 to the spring of 2009 where he coached several specialties including men’s field events, multi-event athletes, and men’s and women’s pole vault across the years of his tenure. Named the 2007 East Region Assistant Coach of the Year for Jumps and Combined Events at Clemson, he helped Mitch Greeley to a second-place finish in the pole vault at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships, the Tigers’ best individual finish indoors ever by a field athlete. Greeley later qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Langley also helped Miller Moss qualify for the 2009 NCAA Championships in the decathlon; Nicole Lomnicka was ranked No. 7 in the nation for the hammer; and his athletes earned All-America honors in the heptathlon and triple jump.
In his first season with Carolina, Langley helped two Tar Heels earn All-America accolades in Daniel Keller and Mateo Sossah. Both merited All-America honors in the decathlon. During the 2010-11 season Langley took over as the Meet Director in addition to his post as assistant coach for pole vault at Carolina. In that same season, Langley coached Parker Smith and Sandi Morris each to NCAA appearances. Smith took fourth tying the highest finish ever by a UNC pole vaulter at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, earning him All-America honors, and also qualified for the 2011 NCAA Indoor meet, where he took 14th. In his last indoor season of eligibility, Smith added a second first-team All-America honor to his credit when he cleared a personal best 17-8 1/2 at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships.
He is married to the former Layna Stoetzel, a former volleyball player at Western Carolina. Their daughter Jayden was born September 1, 2010. Their son Raymond Jacob (RJ) was born August 23, 2012 and their daughter Lilly Anne was born October 16, 2013.
