University of Rochester Athletics

The 2025-26 season marks Sam Albert's 17th year as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the University of Rochester. The Rochester graduate oversees all aspects of the cross country and track & field programs at his alma mater, and took on an expanded role as Women's Cross Country Coach during Summer 2024. He continues to coach the team’s sprinters, hurdlers and middle distance runners during track season.
 
Albert has led a program that has seen numerous NCAA qualifiers and won an array of team and individual championships during his 16 years as Director. The Yellowjackets have earned 97 First Team All-America honors since 2009, with 186 qualifiers competing at the NCAA Track & Field Championships. That total includes seven NCAA Division III national titles for the Yellowjackets, including back-to-back NCAA championships in the women’s 4x400 relay in 2023 and 2024, a pole vault national title from Madeline O’Connell ’23, a triple jump national title for Cole Goodman ’25, and three individual national championships in multi-events from Kylee Bartlett '19.

The Yellowjacket women won a fourth consecutive Liberty League title at the 2025 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and the Rochester men earned team runner-up finishes at both the Liberty League Indoor and Outdoor Championships. The combined program captured 25 individual and relay Liberty League titles during the 2025 season, and set 17 new school records. The Yellowjackets earned nine All-America honors during the Indoor season (6 First Team and 3 Second Team) and produced another nine All-Americans during the Outdoor campaign (8 First Team and 1 Second Team). Megan Bell '25 finished as the NCAA runner-up in the 800 meters at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and her time of 2:05.11 set school and Liberty League records and was the #7 performance in NCAA Division III history. Bell finished the 2025 season with four First Team All-America honors and six Liberty League titles. Thrower Jordan Johnson '25 was named the Liberty League Men's Field Performer of the Year after winning five League titles in 2025 and earning First Team All-America honors with his sixth-place finish in the Hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Bell wrapped up her Yellowjacket career as a 10-time All-American and 3-time Academic All-American, and jumper Cole Goodman '25 graduated as an 8-time All-American in the Long and Triple Jump events, making him the most decorated athlete in the history of Rochester Men's Track & Field.
 
The 2024 campaign was one of the most successful in program history, with the Yellowjackets capturing three NCAA titles, while also earning 20 First Team All-America honors, three Academic All-Americans, and 29 Liberty League individual and relay titles. The Rochester women’s 4x400 relay defended their NCAA indoor title, and Madeline O’Connell ’23 became the first pole vault champion in school history at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships. During the outdoor season, Cole Goodman ’25 captured the program’s third NCAA title of 2024, winning the men’s triple jump and also qualifying to compete at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. The Yellowjacket women’s team won the Liberty League Indoor title for the second year in a row in 2024, and during the spring season they captured a third-straight Liberty League outdoor title. Sixteen new school records were set during the 2024 season, and Goodman (triple jump), O’Connell (pole vault), and the women’s 4x400 relay all recorded top-10 marks in NCAA Division III history.
 
During the 2023 season, the Yellowjackets swept the men’s and women’s team titles at the Liberty League Indoor Championships, and the Rochester women’s team claimed a second consecutive the Liberty League Outdoor title. Rochester athletes collected 16 All-America honors in 2023, including a National Championship in the women’s 4x400 relay at the 2023 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships – the first relay National title in program history. Their winning time of 3:44.84 also established a new NCAA Division III national record. Yellowjacket student-athletes captured 27 individual and relay titles at the Liberty League Championships in 2023, and won six All-Atlantic Region titles.

The Yellowjackets won two Liberty League team titles during the 2022 season – with the Rochester men claiming the indoor League title that year, and the UR women’s team capturing the 2022 outdoor title. Albert previously led the Yellowjacket men to three New York State Collegiate Track Conference team championships (2015 indoor & outdoor, 2016 indoor), and Rochester athletes have won a total of 299 individual and relay conference titles during his16 years as Director.
 
Albert has been honored seven times as Regional Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), and was named Niagara Region Women’s Coach of the Year in 2024 and Regional Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year in 2023. He and the Yellowjacket coaching staff have been named Liberty League Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year seven times (2019 indoor, 2022 outdoor, 2023 indoor, 2023 outdoor, 2024 indoor, 2024 outdoor, 2025 outdoor), Liberty League Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year twice (2022 & 2023 indoor), and earned NYSCTC Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year honors on three occasions (2015 indoor, 2015 outdoor, 2016 indoor).
 
In cross country, the UR women have qualified to the NCAA Championships three times during Albert’s tenure, competing as a team in 2015, 2018 & 2019. The men’s team earned three consecutive invitations to the NCAA Championships from 2010-2012, finishing among the top-25 teams in the nation each year. Rochester runners have also earned four All-America honors in cross country since 2009.
 
Rochester’s student-athletes have been highly successful in the classroom as well, as the cross country and track & field teams have been recognized for collective academic achievement by the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association in each year of Albert’s tenure, and have repeatedly ranked among the highest-achieving teams in the nation. Rochester cross country and track and field student-athletes have also earned 24 CSC Academic All-American honors since 2009.
 
A 2001 Rochester graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology, Albert was a six-time conference champion as a sprinter and hurdler. He was a two-year team captain, and held three school records at the time of his graduation. Albert also holds a Masters degree in Education from Rochester’s Warner Graduate School of Education, and earned a second Masters degree in Exercise & Sport Science/Sport Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006.
 
This is Albert’s second stint on the Yellowjacket coaching staff, having previously served as an assistant coach from 2001-2004. After leaving Rochester to pursue a graduate degree at the University of North Carolina, Albert worked in the Tar Heel Athletic Department as a graduate assistant in Event Operations and Facilities (2004-2006). He went on to spend three years on the Athletics staff at New York University (2006-2009) before returning to the River Campus in 2009.
 
Coach Albert holds Level 1 coaching certification from USA Track & Field and is also certified as a Strength & Conditioning Coach with Advanced Endorsement by the USTFCCCA. He is also a member of both USA Track & Field and the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, and is Past President of the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference (AARTFC). He resides in Brighton with his wife Mackenzie and their two daughters.