Aug. 24, 2006

LAS VEGAS - Tony Houchin has been hired as UNLV's cross country coach and he will also assist with the track and field team, Rebel head coach Barbara Ferrell-Edmonson announced Thursday.

Houchin comes to UNLV after spending the previous season as the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at McNeese State (La.), where he coached four Southland Conference champions and two all-conference performers.

"This is a great opportunity to work with a distance program that has a lot of potential to improve," Houchin said. "I believe I can bring some of the success from my past to UNLV."

Before working at McNeese State last year, Houchin was an assistant coach with the men's and women's track and field and cross country teams at Butler University for two years. During the 2004 cross country season Houchin helped coached the men's team to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and guided the women's squad to 31st place. It was the first time in school history that Butler qualified a women's team to the NCAA Championships.

"Tony was part of building a trophy-winning program at Butler," Ferrell-Edmonson said. "We are looking for a great change in our cross country program in the coming years under him."

Houchin ran track and field for Oklahoma State from 1994-97, earning three All-Big 8 honors for the Cowboys. He earned his B.A. in English from Oklahoma State in 1999.