A recent graduate of Marshall’s Track & Field said being a recent athlete has brought him the confidence he needs as he goes into his first coaching role.

Addison Painter, the men’s indoor and outdoor long jump record holder for the Thundering Herd, has officially been hired as an assistant coach at Marietta College. Painter returns to Marietta where he spent the first four years of his career and was a 2x NCAA Division III All-American in long jump.

“The best thing for me is that I just got out of the game,” Painter said. “I know exactly what it means to be an athlete – I just got done doing it. I know the emotions that everybody’s going through and how they’re feeling and I can relate to them, talk to them and still pull them.”

Painter says that he looks at the career and coaching journey of Keith Roberts, Marshall’s director of Track & Field and  Cross-Country,as just one of the many paths that his career can take.

“He started at the D3 level and worked his way all the way up to where he is now, director of a D1 program,” Painter said. “Just knowing the possibilities are there are exciting.”

Painter said coaching is not the end goal of career choices for himself, though.

“I think someday I’d love to get into administration, but that’s probably a couple of decades down the road,” Painter said.

Painter had a tremendous season in his year with the Thundering Herd. He made the Second Team All-Sun Belt in the indoor season, finishing runner-up in the long jump, as well as qualifying for the Outdoor NCAA East Division preliminaries in the long jump.

Director Roberts said Painter is the type of assistant coach that attracts head coaches like himself.

“If I had a position and I could hire somebody, I would hire him in a heartbeat,” Roberts said. “He’s motivated, he works hard, he’s energetic, he’s professional, he can relate to the athletes, he can relate to the administrators, he can relate to alumni. If you have somebody like that who’s really dynamic, when he goes out and recruits, people are going to buy in right away, and he’s honest – that’s important to be honest with people, and you could always trust that he was going to be honest with you.”

Painter said the opportunity to come to Marshall as a graduate transfer was a result of  the connections he built at Marietta.

Painter said he already knew Andrea Deem, assistant coach for Marshall Track & Field, so he reached out to her and let her know he was interested in the program.

“She got right back to me,” Painter said. “She knew who I was as an athlete and as a person – she knew what I brought to the table.”

“I had a chance to compete at Marshall in a Marietta jersey in the ‘24 season,” Painter said. “Coach Roberts had seen me work already. They kind of knew who I was and what I was about, and I think that gave me a lot of benefits. I was able to come down on a visit a couple of weeks after that meet and seeing campus really sold me.”

Painter said the biggest lesson learned from his time in the transfer portal, which he will carry into coaching, is the importance of relationship building.

“The biggest thing is to build a relationship with these kids,” Painter said. “At the end of the day, an athlete has to trust their coach before they’re willing to sign off four years of their life. There has to be a sense of trust.  They’ve got to like the institution, they’ve got to like the program, they’ve got to like everything.”

Painter now sets his sights on building Marietta College Track & Field to the top of the NCAA Division III mountain and, perhaps, one day become the head coach of his program.

Ben Anderson can be contacted at [email protected].