Michael Porter

Michael Porter joined the Vanderbilt cross country and track and field programs as an assistant coach, working primarily with the distance student-athletes. The 2022-23 season marks his second with the Commodores.

The opening campaign for Porter and the distance Dores was highlighted by accomplishments on and off the field of competition. The Vanderbilt men finished 11th overall at the SEC Cross Country Championships, with the women finishing eighth. Cameron Fawcett earned All-SEC Freshman honors, making her the 12th woman to do so in program history and the first since 2019. The women entered the NCAA South Regional ranked eighth and completed the race in sixth-place. The men competed at the same meet and finished 12th overall. Matthew Estopinal, McKenzie Yanek and Nick Laning were all recognized by the USTFCCCA with All-Region honors.

Academically, the cross country teams earned All-Academic team honors by the USTFCCCA and tabbed several individual honorees. Nick Laning became the second man in SEC history to win SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year more than once, proceeding his CoSIDA first-team All-America recognition. The cross country teams tallied 21 on the SEC Fall Honor Roll, Estopinal and Laning earned CoSIDA All-District honors, five total student-athletes on the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll, Yanek and Grace Jensen on the USTFCCCA All-Academic team during track season, and several distance Dores on the Spring SEC Academic Honor Roll as well.

Lucas Mowery earned the Brad Davis SEC Community Service Award for his efforts both locally in Nashville and his hometown of Costa Mesa, California.

Porter comes to Nashville after a brief stop at the University of Kentucky, where he served as a volunteer assistant coach.

Prior to his stop in Lexington, Porter was an assistant coach at Clemson University from 2014-19, the Tigers totaled two ACC team titles, while Porter tutored six All-Americans, 11 NCAA qualifiers, 12 Top-3 ACC Finishers and 27 student-athletes among the school’s all-time Top 10 lists.

Porter mentored Grace Barnett, a six-time All-American including a 9th-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships, and Logan Morris, a three-time All-ACC recipient who represented the United States at the 2017 World Junior Cross Country Championship.

Prior to Clemson, Porter was a volunteer assistant coach at LSU, and also served as head coach at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, Virginia, from 2008-12.