ITHACA, N.Y. - Mike Henderson, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach on the men's side, has been named the Alan B. '53 and Elizabeth Heekin Harris Head Coach of Women's Track and Field and Men's and Women's Cross Country at Cornell University. He follows in the footsteps of Artie Smith '96, who recently retired from coaching after 20 years at Cornell, a tenure that included 19 Ivy League Heptagonal team championships and 14 All-Americans. 

In two years with the Big Red men's track and field middle-distance and long-distance runners, Henderson has coached one NCAA cross country championship qualifier, 13 Ivy League  and six IC4A point scorers. Henderson Ivy and IC4A point scorers include four top three finishes and one championship performance. He has also overseen four Big Red all-time top 10 performances and has had three athletes break Cornell freshmen records.

In his first season with the Big Red, men's cross country senior Dominic DeLuca ran in the NCAA Championship race for the first time in his career. In addition to individual success, the cross country team saw a two-place improvement at the Ivy League's Heptagonal Championships. After placing two runners in the top 20, the team finished in fourth place in 2017.

"I want to thank Andy Noel and Anita Brenner for giving me the opportunity to carry on the work of all the great Cornell cross country and track & field coaches who have come before me," noted Henderson. "It is truly an honor to be entrusted with the leading of the women's track and field team and the reuniting of the cross country programs, and I am thrilled to be working alongside Coach Adrian Durant and Coach Justin Byron."

Henderson came to East Hill after one season at William & Mary, serving as an assistant cross country coach for both the men's and women's teams, and helping the Tribe sweep the CAA Championships. Under his guidance, Regan Rome went on to qualify for the NCAA Championships as an individual, and was named both the Athlete and Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the conference. On the track, Henderson's event groups once again shined, qualifying four athletes for the NCAA Eastern Prelims, and winning six of the eight conference titles from the 1,500m up to the 10,000m. On the women's side, Rome earned double All-American honors in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m, finishing sixth in the nation in that latter event, while for the men, David Barney advanced to the 1,500m quarterfinals and became the first Tribe man since 1995 to advance a round in the 1,500m.

Henderson joined the William and Mary staff after four years at Princeton, where he was the Tiger's first-ever Director of Operations. In that role, he helped Princeton with all non-coaching aspects of the program, including coordinating recruiting, team travel, budgeting and meet management.

Prior to his time at Princeton, Henderson spent six years at St. Catherine University in Minnesota, serving as both the Head Cross Country and Track & Field coach as well as the Sports Information Director for the women's-only institution. During his tenure, Henderson coached the school's first-ever All-American and established 52 school records across every event area. His athletes won a pair of MIAC conference titles, 31 all-conference awards and six Academic All-America accolades.

Henderson also spent one year at Cornell College (Iowa) as an assistant coach for both the cross country and track teams, helping his charges to three school records and a pair of all-conference honors. 

His coaching career began in 2001 with four years as a volunteer assistant at the University of Iowa where he helped with all facets of the Hawkeye program. While Henderson was in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes won the first regional cross country title in school history (2002) and advanced to three NCAA cross country championships. 

Since 2015, Henderson has also been the co-director of the Green Mountain Cross Country Camp, helping design week-long programs for top middle- and high-school level runners.

He obtained his Master of Arts in Sports Psychology from the University of Iowa, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Gustavus Adolphus College.  A Golden Gusty captain, Henderson was a four-time All-MIAC performer with three appearances on the conference Academic Honor Roll.