Clay Dixon is now entering his eighth year of coaching men’s and women’s cross country and track & field and his sixth as the program's head coach. He led the Eagle cross country teams in 2019 as an interim head coach before being promoted after that season. He also spent two years as an assistant under former MSU coach Steve Picucci.
He joined the MSU coaching ranks after being a member of the cross country and track teams from 2012-2017. While at MSU, he was part of the men’s 4x800-meter relay school-record squad his freshman year. Dixon competed at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship in track and field three times.
During his coaching tenure, Eagle runners have set 27 top-five track times and posted 18 top-20 cross country marks in school history. In addition under his tutelage, new school records have been set in the women's 60-meter, 100-meter and 200-meter dashes; and the women's 1,500-meter and men's 10,000-meter runs.
Academically, all four of his teams (men's cross country, women's cross country, men's track and field, women's track and field) have been honored by the USA Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USATFCCCA) each year they have been eligible. In addition, his men's track and field teams have won the OVC Academic Achievement Award three times, for posting the highest GPA in that sport in the conference. In 2024, his men's track & field squad had the best GPA among all Division I schools in the state.
He is a member of the USATFCCCA and has earned certifications from the organization in Strength and Conditionning, Injury Management, Program Management and Track and Field Technical.
Originally from Winchester, Ky., Dixon graduated from George Rogers Clark High School. He earned his Bachelor's of Science in Exercise Science in 2016 and completed his Masters of Arts in Wellness Promotion in December of 2017, both from MSU. Dixon wrote his masters' thesis on the effects of anthropometric measurements on NCAA Division I track athletes.
Dixon and his wife, Delaina, have two children, June Carter, born in 2022, and Henry David Otis, born in 2024. They live in Olive Hill.
