Josiah Norville enters his third season at Western Michigan in 2024-2025 after three seasons at the University of California Santa Barbara. He oversees the women's sprints, jumps, and hurdles.
Norville had another excellent season in 2025, overseeing more champions and All-MAC performances. During the indoor season, his group produced more than 40 percent of the teams point total. He followed that up with a strong outdoor season, which saw his group have two MAC Champions. Sandra Ferrari was able to win the long jump with a school-record mark, while Mabinty Kebe collected her second consecutive 400m hurdles title. Both athletes advanced to the NCAA Preliminaries, with Kebe finishing in the top 24 in the East Region in the 400m hurdles.
In his second season with the team, Norville helped bring the team to new heights. During the indoor season, he helped two athletes claim All-MAC recognition. That included Sandra Ferrari, who won the 60-meter hurdles MAC Championship. Mabinty Kebe was right behind her in second place to grab Second Team All-MAC honors.
His group turned it up a notch in the outdoor season, helping the Brown and Gold grab fifth place. It was the team's highest finish since 2014. Kebe won the 400-meter hurdles MAC Championship and advanced to the NCAA East Preliminaries. Ferrari also advanced to the NCAA East Regional meet after taking second in the long jump at the MAC Championships. His 4x100 relay team also placed seventh at the MAC meet.
During his first season with WMU, Norville was able to produce a MAC Runner-Up in the 60-meter hurdles (Grace Johnson) and a school-record 60-meter hurdles time (Johnson). He also coached Ahvon Mitchell to a finals appearance in the indoor 60-meter hurdles. Additionally, he helped Anichka Malachi claim a program top-10 mark in the indoor triple jump. With that, Malachi was a finalist in the event at the MAC Championships. Norville also coached Malachi to a conference-finalist finish in the long jump at the MAC Championships.
Prior to Western Michigan, Norville spent the 2022 outdoor season coaching the Gaucho women to their first 4 x 100m Relay Big West conference championship title in school history alongside catalyzing seven more athletes to UCSB top-ten all-time lists. His accolades included conference runner-up performances in both the vertical and horizontal jumps. Female long jumper Emma Barthel produced an epic personal best on the day, only one centimeter away from the title, demonstrating Norville’s ability to periodize athletes’ highest performances during championship season. Norville mandated improvement at his athletes’ conference finish from year to year as the standard versus as an outlier hope: From 2021 to 2022, High Jumper Graham Michiels improved from 4th to 2nd, Triple Jumper Glenn Mbamo improved from 6th to 3rd, Long Jumper Emma Barthel improved from 6th to 2nd, and the 4 x 1 Relay improved from 6th to 1st.
Norville’s ability to recruit individuals capable of providing immediate impact their first year in the program was best evidenced by his signee Jessica Boyd. A UCSB Gaucho had not scored in the 100m in in the Big West conference in the last nine years—that is until Norville recruited Boyd in 2021. He guided the true freshman to advance from prelims to finals and deliver on their plan: She garnered a 7th place medal on day two after having anchored their women’s championship 4x1 relay day one. The 2021 season saw Norville guide high jumper Graham Michiels to his first ever NCAA West Region Preliminary Qualifier mark. Despite the adversities that accompanied Covid19 seasons, Norville coached Gauchos to top-10-record book marks every year he’s been at UCSB, immediately influencing existing team talent as well as those he directly recruited. His UCSB top-ten-all-time-list additions include junior Glenn Mbamo’s 14.85m triple jump in 2020, freshman Mariana Lanz’s 11.74m triple jump in 2021, and sophomore Graham Michiels’ 2021 2.10m high jump.
Norville brought a combined five years of NCAA Division I sprints, hurdles, relays, and jumps coaching experience prior to his arrival in Santa Barbara between his most recent coaching tenure at Fresno State University combined with his volunteer coaching experience at his master’s degree alma mater—Baylor University. While at Fresno State, Norville directly coached seven outdoor NCAA Preliminary West Region Qualifiers across four events (100H, 200, 400, 4x4) over three track and field seasons. His sprints, hurdles, and jumps squad produced two European U-23 qualifiers in the 200m and 400m, a 100m hurdle USA Track and Field junior finalist, a Mountain West Conference 60m hurdle Champion (Morgan Lewis), and 10 All-Mountain-West Selections. The Batavia, Illinois native coached ten Fresno-State-top-ten marks across six event areas (100m, 200m, 400m, 100mH, 4x4R, TJ) that included Maja Pogorevc’s improvement from 58.0 to 53.84 in the 400m along with guiding Breanna Covington to achieve her 12.26m triple jump during her first year learning the event.
Before Fresno State, Norville was the sprints and hurdles coach as well as the strength and conditioning coach at Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas. During the 2016 indoor and outdoor seasons, Norville coached 22 All-Americans, 33 national qualifiers, three regional champions, 18 first-team all-regional selections, 19 conference champions across eight events, 28 first-team all-conference selections, and one USATF Junior Nationals qualifier (100m). He also aided in five school records set by his student-athletes on the track.
In 2015, Norville was at Western State Colorado University where he coached six provisional national qualifiers, 17 all-conference selections, nine first-team honorees, and one USATF Junior Nationals qualifier (200m) as the sprints and hurdles coach. In 2015, Norville coached the 400m hurdle men’s Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion (Anthony Erps, 53.22) and was instrumental in contributing to both conference championship team titles from the 2015 Indoor and Outdoor Men's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship Win.
Prior to Western State Colorado University, Norville was a volunteer assistant coach for the 2014 South Central Regional Coach of Year Michael Ford at Baylor University. He assisted Ford in coaching Baylor’s short sprints and hurdles for three seasons, working with multiple Big 12 Champions, NCAA qualifiers, champions, and relay teams. Norville received his master's degree in exercise physiology with a specialization in strength and conditioning in 2014 from Baylor University.
As a student-athlete, Norville earned his bachelor's degree in biology/exercise science at Illinois College in Jacksonville where he was a seven-time All-Midwest Conference selection and team captain for two years. He was 2010’s Midwest Conference Champion in the 110-meter hurdles and still currently holds the Illinois College school record in the 55-meter hurdles.
Norville holds official certification as a strength and conditioning coach by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, has his CSCS, USA Weightlifting level 1, and is also a certified personal trainer by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. As a track and field coach, Norville is most proud of his holistic influence on the life of his student-athletes, which has led to an exceptional graduation, athletic, and personal achievement rate among his charges despite humble beginnings for many.
WMU Stats
- Four MAC Champions
- Sandra Ferrari - 2024 60m Hurdles
- Mabinty Kebe - 2024 400m Hurdles
- Sandra Ferrari - 2025 Outdoor Long Jump
- Mabinty Kebe - 2025 400m Hurdles
- Seven All-MAC Selections
- Grace Johnson - Second Team (Indoor 2023)
- Sandra Ferrari - First Team (Indoor 2024)
- Mabinty Kebe - First Team (Outdoor 2024)
- Mabinty Kebe - Second Team (Indoor 2024)
- Sandra Ferrari - Second Team (Outdoor 2024)
- Sandra Ferrari - First Team (Outdoor 2025)
- Mabinty Kebe - First Team (Outdoor 2025)
- Four NCAA East Preliminary Qualifiers
- Four School Record Holders
- Grace Johonson - 60m Hurdles
- Sandra Ferrari - Indoor Long Jump
- Sandra Ferrari - Outdoor Long Jump
- Sandra Ferrari - 100m Hurdles
- MAC Freshman Performer of the Year
- 24 Top-Ten Marks in School History
Career Stats
- 25 All-Americans
- 41 National Qualifiers
- 18 NCAA Preliminary Qualifiers
- 28 Individual Conference Champions
- Four Team Conference Championships
- 15 School Records
- 53 All-Time Top 10 Performances in School History
- Two European U-23 Championship Qualifiers
- Five U-20 USA Championship Qualifiers
