Head Coach Matthew Hird

Matt Hird begins his fifth season as women's track & field coach at Salve Regina University. Hird has guided the Seahawks to a second-place finish at The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Invitational in each of the past three seasons. At the 2009 Invitational, five different student-athletes recorded first-place finishes, including Jessica Long (400m hurdles, long jump), Marissa Fiore (800m), Caroline Norton (1500m), Taylor Rosendale (3000m steeplechase), and Emily Odgen (triple jump).

Hird - who currently serves as the secretary/treasurer for the New England Women's Division III Cross Country and Track & Field Association - arrived in Newport after serving as head coach of the women's cross country and track and field programs at Rhode Island College. While at RIC, 11 of Hird's student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships, and two of his student-athletes were All-America selections, including Annmarie Gower Marino, who was the first female All-America selection in RIC history. The Anchorwomen also earned 30 Division III All-ECAC titles, including three championships.

Against Division I, II, and III competition, Hird's student-athletes have earned seven All-New England awards and one champion (hammer throw), while 18 received Division III All-New England honors - two of whom won championships. His teams won two Little East Conference champions, and 22 student-athletes captured outdoor track & field championships.

A 1973 graduate of Colby College with a degree in history, Hird was a member of the cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field teams at Colby. He went on to earn his master's degree in teaching from Brown University, and later began his coaching career at Toll Gate High School, where he coached several all-state athletes.

Hird resides in Warwick, R.I.

(Updated 8/10/09)