Joe Rogers, one of the most experienced and well-respected track and field coaches in the country, joined the Army staff in 2000 after a 16-year stint as the head coach at Ball State University. He has over 45 years of experience coaching track and field with 40 of those years at the collegiate level.
Primarily working with Army's jumpers and hurdlers, Rogers has guided athletes to Academy records (Jeff Weaver in the indoor and outdoor long jump and outdoor triple jump, and Brandon Lewis in the indoor heptathlon) and 46 Patriot League titles.
At the conference championships, Weaver (2002 & '04), Rudy Mejia ('05 & '07) and Kenneth Saffold ('06) won five indoor long jump individual titles in six years under Rogers' guidance. Mejia claimed a total of five conference titles as he also won the 2006 and 2007 outdoor long jump and 2006 outdoor triple jump. Rogers' triple jumpers have also taken four of the last six outdoor men's titles, including 2011's belt by Thomas Wagner.
On the women's side, Rogers guided Angela Jenkins and Jari Ross to three consecutive indoor triple jump titles (2007-09), while Janelle Jones took back-to-back outdoor triple jump titles (2007-08). In addition to Lewis' three straight ('06-08) decathlon championships and back-to-back ('06-07) pentathlon titles, Rod Manzo was also an Army standout under Rogers who won the 2004 heptathlon. Hurdler Katelin Grant garnered three straight titles ('05-07) in the 400-meter hurdles, while Domonick Sylve ('11) solidified Army's control in the 60- and 110-hurdles.
Rogers helped Sylve, originally a walk-on to the program, develop into a school-record holding high hurdler. Sylve is a seven-time Patriot League champion, a three-time IC4A champion, and two-time NCAA semifinalist, capping his record-breaking career by earning second team All-America honors following an 11th-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Championships. In addition to owning the Academy records in the 110-meter high hurdles, 55-meter hurdles and 60-meter hurdles, Sylve established Patriot League Championship records in the 60- and 110-hurdles.
The honors that Rogers garnered prior to joining the Army staff included being selected as the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1990. Following an outstanding 1990 campaign, Rogers was also selected as the NCAA District IV Coach of the Year. Additionally, he served as the Cardinals' cross country coach for 12 years, leading the 1989 team to a 19th place finish at the NCAA National meet and a 14th place ranking in the final NCAA poll.
Rogers also has international experience, coming first as the assistant manager for the USA team that competed in Bremen, Germany, against the West German team in 1985. He was also the head coach of the U.S. team that won a triangular running meet versus England and Kenya in 1990. Rogers served as the head manager on the U.S. Junior Pan-American team that competed in Santiago, Chile, in 1995. He was an assistant coach for the North team competing in the National Sports Festival in 1983 and was the head coach of the same team competing in the US Olympic Festival in 1987.
Rogers has served on various track and field and development committees within the USA Track and Field organization. He was a member of the original Coaches' Education Committee formed in 1984 and chaired it from 1992-1995. Rogers has also been a clinic speaker throughout the United States and has been a part of the curriculum development groups that formulated and revised the Level I and Level II Coaching Education Programs.
After earning his bachelor and master's degrees from Miami University, Rogers began coaching at the high school level, then took coaching positions at Hillsdale College and Olivet College in Michigan before taking over as head coach at Ball State.
Rogers and his wife, Irene, a teacher and coach at the West Point Middle School, reside in New Windsor, N.Y. They have a married son, Jason, who is Director of Emergency Services in Delaware County; a married daughter, Blythe, who lives in Sunnyvale, Calif.; as well as two grandchildren: granddaughter Makayla and step-grandson, Cameron.
