NEW ORLEANS - LSU New Orleans Track and Field / Cross Country Coach Clayton O'Callaghan has completed his staff with the addition of assistant coach Courtney Ware. She will specialize in jumps/sprints on the Lakefront.

"I'm very excited to be adding Courtney," said O'Callaghan. "She's shown a tremendous ability to develop jumpers at previous stops. I'm thrilled to see where she will take our jumps program going forward as we continue to build a complete team here on the Lakefront."

Ware arrives in New Orleans after a highly successful six-year stint on Teremine White's staff at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Under her tutelage at Southern, Kevon Hamilton (triple jump) qualified for the NCAA East Regional in 2023 and 2024, with Reginal King (triple jump) and Ronan Smith (high jump) joining him in 2024.

Smith was joined by Herman Baptiste (high jump) at the 2025 NCAA East Regional and became the first Jaguar to reach the NCAA Championships since 2009. He then qualified for his third NCAA East Regional in 2026 and was joined by Keith Fowler (high jump), and Koi Wedderburn (long jump).

All told during her time in Baton Rouge she coached 10 different Jaguar jumpers to All-SWAC honors: Aniyah Styles (2020 indoor high jump), Destiny Mitchell (2021 indoor high jump, 2021 outdoor high jump), Jordan Landry (2021 indoor high jump),

Karanay Alexander (2021 pentathlon), Kevon Hamilton (2023 indoor triple jump, 2023 outdoor triple jump), Azariah Foster (2024 indoor triple jump), Camille Lewis (2024 outdoor high jump, 2026 indoor high jump), Ronan Smith (2025 indoor high jump, 2025 outdoor high jump, 2026 indoor high jump), Sahnya Lathon (2025 outdoor championships) and Peyton Funderburk (2026 indoor long jump, 2026 outdoor long jump).

Ware coached SWAC outdoor triple jump champions in three of the last four years. Hamilton won in 2023, Lathon followed with a title winning jump in 2025 and Smith earned top honors in 2026.

Ware spent the 2019 season coaching jumpers at Spartanburg High School in South Carolina. Cameron Gist won a state championship and set the school record in triple jump that season as one of the best jumpers in the Palmetto State.

Between 2013-2017 Ware coached at Arkansas Pine-Bluff. During her time in Arkansas, Sydnee Worlds earned a pair of bronze medals at the 2015 SWAC Indoor Championships in long and triple jump, before taking home the outdoor gold in both events that same season. Worlds scored a meet high 29 points at the 2015 SWAC Outdoor Championships and qualified for the NCAA West Regional.

Crystal Christopher and Briana Burke finished second and third respectively at the 2015 SWAC Outdoor Championships - both in long jump. Burke cleared six meters and qualified for the NCAA West Regional.

Before UAPB, Ware spent two seasons at Iowa Central Community College starting in 2011.  Her student-athletes broke multiple school records and won multiple conference championships. In 2013, the men's and women's teams finished as indoor national runners-up, while the women captured the NJCAA Outdoor National Championship.

Her coaching career began in 2010 at Coffeyville Community College. During her two seasons in Coffeyville, she coached multiple NJCAA national qualifiers and All-Americans and one national champion. Her athletes broke the school's long jump and triple jump records in 2011.

As a student-athlete at Georgia Southern under Natalie Smith, Ware earned All So-Con honors at 100M, 400H, and relays between 2008-2010. The Indianapolis native was also a two-time NJCAA All-American at 200M and long jump at Rend Lake College. She finished her career at Rend as the school record holder at 55M, and ranked in the top three all-time at 60M, 200M and long jump.

Ware holds her degree in child development with minors in sociology and education from Georgia Southern and holds USTFCCCA Track and Field certification.

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