Lionel Nau is in his second season as Assistant Track and Field/Cross Country Coach. Nau returned to his South Carolina State, his alma mater, in 2023 and has been re-united with SC State head coach Donald Cooper, also a graduate, who took over the reins of the Bulldog and Lady Bulldog programs two years ago.
Nau brought 10 years of coaching experience to Orangeburg when he joined Cooper’s staff. The Strasbourg, France native worked from October 2020 to February 2023 at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, TX, where his primary duties included coaching sprinters, hurdlers, and relays.
SFA enjoyed remarkable success during Nau’s tenure with the program. In his first season, the Lumberjacks’ 4x400 relay team was second (3:01.52) at the 2021 NCAA Championships in Eugene, OR. Four of the team’s top athletes made marked improvements under his tutelage, including Auhmad Robinson, who delivered a 400 meters record in 45.61 at the West Regionals NCAA qualifying rounds, and freshman Kiera Yarbrough, who established the women’s 100 meters record (11.51) at SFA.
The success continued his second season as the men’s 4x100 relay team qualified for the 2022 NCAA Championship and several other athletes established personal records. Overall, Nau helped SFA secure four conference titles, while producing several conference champions.
Prior to his tenure at SFA, Nau spent one season, 2019, at Western Kentucky, where he served as the Hilltoppers’ jumps coach. Before going to Western Kentucky, he served three years as Director of Track and Field at Tusculum University in Greenville, TN. While at Tusculum, Nau helped grow the cross-country program, while getting the track and field program off the ground in its inaugural season. Six students qualified for the NCAA Division II Championship with three more qualifying in the program’s second season.
Also, two Tusculum student-athletes earned All-America accolades, including Nicolle McMillen in the steeplechase and Widchard Guervil in the indoor 60 meters and the outdoor 100 meters.
Before his stint at Tusculum, Nau was an assistant track and field coach at Queens University in Charlotte, NC and previously served in a similar position at Paine College in Augusta, GA. Both programs made strides under his guidance.
Nau’s career has been marked by several successes, including being a part of nine collective team conference championships and producing several conference individual champions.
Nau was an accomplished athlete himself and was a potential member of the Haitian Olympic Team Relay Pool for the 2008 Beijing Games as a 4x400 meter relay member team but was sidelined by injuries. He had several successes as a competitor and is certified as a Sprints/Hurdles Relays Specialist and Strength and Conditioning Coach by the USTFCCCA. He also holds an USATF Level 1 Track and Field Certification.
He earned a bachelor’s in business administration at SC State in 2003 and obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Webster University in 2010. He helped SCSU to a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Indoor championship as the team captain in 2002, the last league title captured by the Bulldogs.
