The Track Alumnus Who Returned to Georgetown to Coach the Hoyas

This story is part of Georgetown Faces, a storytelling series that celebrates the beloved figures, unsung heroes and dedicated Hoyas who make our campus special.

Alton McKenzie (B'93) was a soccer player before he became a track and field standout.

McKenzie grew up in Jamaica playing the world's game. When he was 15, he moved to the U.S. to be with his mother. In high school, McKenzie joined the track and field team to stay in shape for soccer when he discovered he had a natural talent for sprints - enough talent to be recruited to compete for Georgetown.

"I enjoyed demanding coaches, and [the coaches at Georgetown] surely were. They were tough on you, but they were loving," McKenzie said. "Everything about being on campus felt like home. Thirty-six years later, it still feels that way to me."

Today, Alton is the director of track and field and cross countryat Georgetown and leads both the men's and women's programs. As a coach, he works primarily with the sprinters on the track and field team.

Prior to Georgetown, McKenzie built a promising career in the telecommunications industry. But after a decade, he felt the pull to return to the track. He became the head coach of the track and field and cross country teams at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) in 2011. In this first coaching stint, McKenzie coached multiple All-American athletes and turned the Division II program into a conference powerhouse.

Since coming home to Georgetown in 2016, McKenzie has stacked up accolade after accolade. Under his leadership, the women's cross country team has won six straight Big East conference titles. On the track, he led the men's outdoor team to a second-place finish and the women's team to a second-place finish in the Big East Indoor Championships in 2025.

For McKenzie, coaching at Georgetown three decades after he graduated is a full-circle moment.

"I can't put it into words," he said. "It really resonates with me that I get to help be a part of the journey of men and women that I know will continue the great legacy of track and field and cross country at Georgetown."

Why sports are a family affair:I'm from Jamaica, which gives you a hint. Jamaicans don't do anything but sprint. Everybody knows Jamaica for sprinting. I have a rich history of athletics in my family. I'm from a horse family. My dad was a horse trainer, so the coaching trait, I think, came from my dad. I have a history in soccer. My uncle played professionally for Jamaica. When Pelé played in the U.S., I have the distinction of having a family member who scored the first goal in that game.

Adjusting to life in the U.S.:New York, people call it a melting pot. I call it more of a salad bowl. You have a mixture of so many different cultures. There are more Jamaicans in Brooklyn than in Jamaica! So moving to Brooklyn was good. The move was for my mom, who was trying to make a better life for me.

My pivot from soccer to track: Soccer, I was good, but I wasn't that good. Nobody was recruiting me. What I didn't like about track in my younger years was being frustrated with the hurdles. But success breeds motivation. Once I got a taste of being good, they moved me to the 800. I was competitive. I liked to win. I wanted to be successful.

Why Georgetown was a no-brainer: The energy. It felt like home. Georgetown's track program was world-class. Coach Frank Gagliano was an extension of my dad. He was a strong personality but loving at the same time. It seemed to be a perfect fit from a coaching perspective. Very demanding coaches who wanted you to do your best as you could, and that resonated with me.

What pulled me from telecom to sports: The 2004 US Olympic trials, I was in Sacramento promoting a prepaid card. I ended up interacting with one of my former teammates. Being back around that environment and remembering how I enjoyed being in sports, that triggered my love for the sport. The fire was lit again.

Why I turned down coaching at Georgetown the first time:[I was] approached in 2014 about becoming the assistant coach at Georgetown. I turned it down because I felt I hadn't done enough at UDC to warrant coming back to Georgetown. I'm glad I waited because the best year we had at UDC was 2014. I came back to Georgetown in 2016, having had the ability to make some history and have an impact at UDC in a way that I felt I was ready to coach D1 at Georgetown.

Why I love coaching:Here I am, 30-odd years later, and I can still pinpoint how much my coach helped to change my life by giving me the opportunity to compete at Georgetown, get a first-class degree and compete and become an All-American. I get excited more about what they've done off the track than what they've done on the track. I love bragging about kids who have their Ph.D.s or work at big law firms and have a lot of success. My job is to make sure you're successful, so you get to the point where you can take me out to dinner, and it's not going to be Chick-fil-A.

What coaching at my alma mater means to me:I can't put it into words. It really resonates with me that I get to help be a part of the journey of men and women that I know will continue the great legacy of track and field at Georgetown. We celebrated 50 years of women's track and field and cross country and a hundred years of men's cross country in March 2025. Being able to stand there and be the head coach during that time, being able to see people from the Class of 1966 to the Class of 2024 meant a lot to me because I get to be a part of something bigger than me.

One of my favorite memories as a coach: Abel Teffra winning the indoor mile at Virginia Beachin 2025. A lot of people didn't know I could be that loud and get that excited. I don't think I've ever screamed that loudly at a meet ever in my life. That was special to see.

What I love doing off the track: No coach in the country can cook better than me, especially Jamaican food. When I was at UDC, I don't think there was any other coach bringing jerk chicken and rice & peas to Penn Relays. At our team barbecue that starts off the season, it's Jamaican food. Anybody who runs at Georgetown, whether they've had Jamaican food or not, they're going to get it while they're running at Georgetown.

Why Georgetown is special:It's a place that I cherish to the point where my existence as a person, as a father, [comes from.] The most important job to me is not being a coach. It's being a father. The fact that both my children were born at Georgetown, I get to see the place where my journey as a young person started, but also my journey where I am now as a father with a 21-year-old and a 16-year-old.