Lincoln London is in his sixth season as the head men’s and women’s cross-country/track & field coach at Claflin University. London joined the Claflin University staff in 2013 after a short stint with his alma mater, Abilene Christian University (ACU). Prior to ACU, he spent three seasons, 2007-2009, as an assistant coach with McNeese State University’s track & field program, where he coached the sprints, hurdlers, and jumps.
Throughout his career, London has coached two Olympians, one IAAF world medalists, three NCAA All-Americans at ACU and five NCAA Division II All-Americans here at Claflin University (four individuals and one team), a Southland Conference champion, several Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) conference champions and most recently, several Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) conference champions, including two championship most valuable runners.
London has steadily improved the status of Claflin men’s and women’s programs, both in the classroom and on the track and field.
Academically, his 2019 women’s cross-country team and women’s track and field team earned the prestigious CIAA Academic Team award. While Claflin was a member of the SIAC, his men’s cross-country squad, along with the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams earned the prestigious SIAC All-Academic Team award in 2015.
In 2014, London coached Dennis Bain to a runner-up finish in the 60 meter-hurdles at the 2014 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships. Bain also participated in the Commonwealth Games for his native country of the Bahamas that same year.
In addition to several conference champions during the 2015 outdoor season, sprinter Trisana Fairweather and the women’s 4x100-meter relay team qualified for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field championships. During the championships, both Fairweather and the relay team earned All-America status, Fairweather with a fourth and fifth place finish in the 200 and 400, respectively, and a ninth-place finish for the women’s 4x100-meter relay team in the finals.
London’s most successful season at Claflin was the 2015-16 season where he coached several conference champions, two individual and one team NCAA Division II All-Americans and the school first-ever NCAA champion. In addition, his women's team was ranked in the Top 25 in the nation for two consecutive years. For his coaching efforts on the men’s side, he was named 2016 South Region men’s Coach of the Year for the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Other individual honors under London’s tutelage include: fall 2015 Carrie Byrd captured her second straight SIAC cross-country title and finished 15th at the regional meet to earn All-Region honors; 2016 indoor season, London coached Fairweather and Brandon Valentine-Parris to All-American status. Fairweather finished third and fifth in the 200 and 60 meters, respectively, while Valentine-Parris finished third in the 400 meters at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field championships
London’s teams continued to make marked improvements during the 2016 outdoor season, at its conference championship as well as on the national circuit. The women’s team finished third overall at the 2016 SIAC Outdoor Track & Field championships, the best-ever for the program while the men’s team finished fourth at the championships, its best-ever. Additionally, there were seven Lady Panthers crowned champions (200m, 400m, 10k, 4 x 100m, 400m hurdles, pole vault, javelin) and champion on the men’s side, 4 x 400 meters.
Perhaps London’s greatest accomplishments of the season was coaching Fairweather to the school’s first-ever national championship, as she captured gold in the 200 meters. Fairweather also finished third at the meet in the 100 meters. His women’s 4x100-meter relay, consisting of Aliyah Miller, Makayla Jackson, Brenay Brown and Fairweather, finished fourth overall.
A native of Trinidad, London ran two seasons at Jackson State University before transferring to complete his collegiate career at ACU, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration in 1991. As a student-athlete at ACU, he earned a total of seven NCAA All-Americas honors.
London is Level II certified in sprints/hurdles/relays and jumps. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
