Shawn Flanagan to Retire at End of 2017 Season

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Shawn Flanagan has announced he will retire from coaching effective at the end of the 2017 Outdoor Track & Field Season.
 
Flanagan is the first head cross country/track & field coach in Islanders program history, starting the program from scratch in 2000. Since then, the Blue and Green have hauled in 11 conference team championships, three NCAA national individual championships, seven NCAA All-American awards as well as numerous individual conference awards.
 
"I want to thank Shawn for everything he's done to build the Islanders Cross Country and Track and Field programs over the past 17 years," said Lazenby. "His tenure has seen numerous conference championships, NCAA championships and individual awards. We as an Islanders Family are incredibly grateful for Shawn's time and dedication to his student-athletes, Islanders Athletics and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi."
 
 In 33 years as a head coach, Flanagan has been recognized as a NCAA Regional Coach of the Year or Conference Coach of the Year over 30 times.
 
His career has included coaching Olympians, NCAA National Champions, All-Americans and numerous national qualifiers. On the Island, Flanagan coached three-time national champion and All-American Shadrack Songok. Along with Songok, Flanagan has mentored six other All-Americans while with the Islanders.
 
During his tenure at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Flanagan saw the Islanders build a permanent home for Cross Country and Track & Field. The Dugan Family Track Stadium opened in August 2013 and is one of the premier facilities in the Southland Conference. The stadium also includes a cross country course just beyond its perimeter.
 
 
Flanagan's coaching career started at UTSA where he helped launch the program in 1981 taking over as head coach in 1984. During his tenure, Flanagan coached the only Southland Conference team in conference history to win the NCAA Regional title in cross country. He followed that performance with a 19th place finish as a team at the NCAA Nationals, which was also a Southland Conference record.
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will conduct a national search for Flanagan's replacement.