Shannon Flowers enters his 16th year as anassistant coach with the UMBC Men’s and Women’s track& field programs. Flowers began his coaching careeras a volunteer hurdle coach alongside Bobb as they embarked ontheir inaugural season in 1998.
As a collegiate competing for Lincoln University, Flowers earned10 Division III All-America honors in the 110m hurdles and the 400mintermediate hurdles. He is a former NCAA indoor champion in the55m hurdles and NCAA outdoor champion in the 110mhurdles. Flowers still holds the 110m hurdles NCAADivision III outdoor record (13.86) which has stood since 1993.
Flowers’ post-collegiate career included numerous USATFIndoor and Outdoor national championship appearances with thehighlight being a provisional qualification in the 110m hurdles forthe 1996 USA Olympic trials.
In 2001, Flowers became an official assistant coach working withthe men and women hurdlers. He enjoyed some success with thisevent group but with the expanding team size and his knowledgebase, Bobb felt that he was capable of bringing more to thetable. In 2006, Bobb expanded his responsibilities toinclude the men’s and women’s horizontaljumpers. Bobb turned to Flowers once again in 2009 whenhe expanded his event group to also include the men’s andwomen’s long sprinters.
“I am impressed with his (Flowers) dedication and hisability to connect with athletes. He has been myright-hand man for the past 11 years and I could not have done whatI’ve done without him. He has been an integral part inbuilding the program to its current status” says Bobb.
In his tenure at UMBC, coach Flowers has coached 5 conferencechampions, 13 IC4A/ECAC qualifiers and one regional qualifier. Inaddition, Flowers has coached 10 current retriever school recordholders in the short hurdles, long hurdles, long sprints andhorizontal jumps.
The Baltimore, Maryland native earned his bachelor’sdegree in health Science from Lincoln University, Pa. in 1993 andhis master’s degree in special education from Coppin StateUniversity in 2003. Flowers currently teaches specialeducation students in the Montgomery County Public SchoolSystem.
