Bio

Michael Roberts was named the head coach of the Northwood University track & field teams in September of 2016. He is now in his sixth season as the head coach of the cross country/track & field programs.

This will be Roberts' seventh season overall as a part of the Northwood staff. After spending his first season as an assistant coach, Robert was the interim head coach after the departure of Jamie Moreno in December of 2015.

In his time at Northwood, he has focused on sprints, hurdles, relays, and both the vertical and horizontal jumps. Roberts also serves as the recruiter coordinator for the Cross Country / Track & Field team.

During his first two years with the Timberwolves, Roberts has had a pair of athletes earn individual GLIAC conference titles in the Long Jump and Triple Jump and each went on to compete at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor National Championships. He has also coached the Timberwolves to capturing a combined seven school records in the Long Jump, Triple Jump, 100 meter dash, 400 Hurdles, and Women's 4 x 100m relay in both indoors and outdoors seasons.

In the 2015-16 season, Roberts served as Interim Head Coach for the Timberwolves and coached junior Elaina Meadows to school records in both the indoors and outdoors Long Jump. Meadows also captured the Indoor GLIAC Conference Title, as well as qualifying for the NCAA Indoor National Championships where she earned 2nd Team All-American honors. Along with Meadows, sophomores Madison Arnouts (400m Hurdles) and Kara Young (100m Dash) each broke school records of their own. 

In the 2014-15 season, Roberts coached Jeremy Wilchcombe to an Outdoor GLIAC Conference Title and NCAA Outdoor All-American 8th place finish in the Triple Jump. Wilchcombe is also the school record holder for both the indoors and outdoors events. In addition, he coached the women's 4x100m Relay Team to a new school record.

Prior to Northwood University, Roberts gained insight and experience from spending two years as the assistant sprint coach for Indiana State University. While with the Sycamores, Roberts coached Katie Wise to qualify for the USA Championships and the NACAC Championships in the 100m Dash (11.18). He also guided Wise to an NCAA Indoor All-American 5th place finish in the 60m dash with a time of 7.25.  In the 2013-14 season, Roberts mentored nine Sycamores to the NCAA Outdoor National championships in the 100m (11.18), 200m (23.06), 110H (13.43-men), 400H (50.80-men) and the women's 4 x 100m relay (44.64). During his stint with the Sycamores, Roberts coached 21 athletes to the NCAA East Preliminary Round and has coached 14 athletes to All-Conference Indoor and Outdoor titles in the sprints, hurdles, and relays at the MVC Championships. The majority of those achievements where during his time under Head Coach John McNichols and Head Coach Angela Martin at ISU.  Roberts also helped the Sycamores capture consecutive Indoor and Outdoor Conference team titles in 2013 and 2014.

Roberts was also a respected student-athlete, competing at Indiana State University. Roberts was a two-time East Preliminary Round qualifier and a multiple time All-MVC runner-up in the hurdles. He also served as an ISU team captains during his collegiate career. Roberts graduated from Indiana State with a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science. He also earned his Master's of Science degree (M.S.) in Physical Education with a specialization in Coaching.

Roberts is a United States Track and Field (USATF) Level 1 certified instructor. In his spare time, Roberts likes to read and spend time with his dog Lootus.