"Bubba Thornton" is a men's track and field coach at the University of Texas at Austin ("UT"). He is also the former head coach for the USA Track & Field team for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

Thornton graduated from Texas Christian University ("TCU") in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in physical education. He participated in varsity football and track and field at TCU. After graduating, he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the 14th round of the 1969 NFL Draft/1969 American Football League draft and started as a rookie wide receiver. He began his coaching career at Keller High School where he served as the athletics director and head football coach from 1977 - 1981.

In 1982 he became head coach of track and field at TCU[http://www.dailytexanonline.com/sports/2013/06/26/mens-track-and-field-head-coach-bubba-thornton-retires Men's Track and Field Head Coach Bubba Thornton retires / The Daily Texan] where he coached 72 NCAA All-Americans and his men’s team had five NCAA Top 10 finishes (1983, ’87, ’88, ’89 and ’91) and 11 Top 20 finishes. He also coached the TCU team to 39 major relay titles, including five NCAA 400-meter relay championships (1986, ’87, ’89, ’91 and ’95) and the 1983 1,600-meter relay national title.

More Bubba Thornton on Wikipedia.

We were really excited about his semifinal performance. His experience of competing against some of the best runners in the world was good for him. That will set him up to do well at the conference and national championships.

I am extremely excited about the performance tonight. We had several personal bests, and I'm really pleased with how Jamaal (Charles) and Ryan (Palmer) stepped in today and competed. Raymond (Harris) is showing us that he will be a player at the indoor conference meet.

We have a legitimate shot. We have a shot because of the depth people like Brian and Jamaal give us.

We're still going to compete for the title and certainly feel like we have an opportunity to do that. We can only do what we're going to do, and then we'll see where we end up at the end of the day.

When you set a national collegiate record on your first outing of the season, you're sending a statement to everyone else competing in that event. Trey (Hardee) was healthy during fall workouts, and the work ethic certainly was there all along. It just all came together for Trey.

He probably runs the fastest 40 meters in the country.

It's part of the sport -- any sport. Sometimes things happen.

This group of guys stuck together as a team to win this title. We don't have any individual attitudes on this team; everyone thinks about the team first. These guys have their rewards, as a result.

John is going to show up. I can remember when John couldn't spell sprinter — so yes, we're not taking anything for granted.