New Orleans Head Coach Benjamin Dalton enters his fourth season with the Privateers and second as the program's head coach. Dalton heads up both the men's and women's track and field and cross country teams and has directed clear course for the University of New Orleans’s success both on and off the track, molding it into a premier program in the Southland Conference.

In his first year on the Lakefront, Dalton was part of a staff that coached the Privateers' first track and field competitor at NCAA Nationals when Karl Saluri qualified in the decathlon. Dalton helped guide sprinter, Darius Roy to a successful freshman season as an NCAA competitor, All-Southland and All-LSWA Freshman of the Year.

In the sprints (60m, 100m, 200m, 400m), hurdles (60mH, 110mH, 100mH, 400mH), sprint relay events (4x100, 4x400), 800m and Multi-events—all of which are Dalton’s primary focus—New Orleans has amassed some fantastic numbers in the first two years being Division 1 and a conference member:

• 1 NCAA Finalist in the Decathlon
• 4 NCAA regional participants
• 3 Conference Champions
• 10 Conference medalists
• 25 All Conference Performances
• 13 Men’s school records
• 10 Women’s school records

Dalton comes to New Orleans after coaching at The University of Texas. During the 2012 outdoor season indoor season, Dalton aided in a third place finish in the John McDonnell ‘Program of the Year’ award standings. This award is presented annually to the NCAA’s most outstanding Division I men’s cross country/track and field program based on the institutions finish at the NCAA Division I Championships.

Texas also achieved a ninth place finish at the 2012 NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa with Dalton guiding All-American Keiron Stewart to an eighth place finish in the NCAA 110m hurdles final and helping Stewart play a role in the NCAA-qualifying 4x100 relay, which posted a time of 39.53 seconds.

During the 2012 indoor season Benjamin saw Texas take a seventh place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and helped UT capture five individual Big 12 titles while finishing second at the Big 12 Championships. He also helped guide Stewart to a silver medal finish in the 60m hurdle event at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.

Prior to Texas, Dalton began his collegiate coaching career at LSU, where he had a part in producing one of the most talented sprint units in the country. During Dalton's tenure at LSU, he helped steer the Lady Tigers to both Indoor and Outdoor SEC Crowns in 2011. The Lady Tigers also combined for four NCAA event titles and 14 All-America honors during the 2011 campaign.

For the Tigers, Dalton was instrumental in the development of Barrett Nugent who captured an NCAA title with his victory in the 110-meter hurdles on the final day of the NCAA Outdoor meet. As a men's and women's assistant in the 2009-10 and 2010-2011 seasons, Dalton helped lead Nugent to NCAA runner-up finishes in the 110 hurdles outdoors in 2010 and 60 hurdles indoors in 2011.

In addition to his time as a collegiate coach, Dalton has had a presence on the international scene.

As assistant coach to Malcolm Arnold, Dalton saw the development of 2009 European Junior 110 meter hurdle champion Lawrence Clarke, who ran 13.37 to break Colin Jackson's old European Junior record. In addition, 2009 Outdoor World Championship 400m hurdle finalist Dai Greene claimed silver in the 4x400m in Berlin. Both of whom were finalists at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Furthermore, Dalton was instrumental as a travel coach for Lolo Jones during her 2010 Indoor World Championship 60m hurdle Gold medal winning season.

Dalton’s United States Track & Field Coaching Experience
Along with his collegiate achievements, Dalton has enjoyed success internationally. As the men’s sprint hurdle and relays coach of the United States’ 2015 World University games Team, Americans claimed 12 medals—one gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze.
 

Athlete Improvement at UNO Under Dalton 2014-2015
Athlete	Event	High School PR	UNO PR	Notable
Darius Roy	100m	10.78	10.25	No. 1 on UNO All-Time Outdoor Top 10
Constant Pretorius	200m	DNR	21.32i	No. 1 on UNO Indoor All-Time Outdoor Top 10
Darius Roy	200m	21.8	20.99	No. 1 on UNO All-time Outdoor Top 10
Alexia Fortenberry	100mH	14.13	13.14	No. 1 on UNO All-Time Outdoor Top 10
Mikayla Barber	400mH	1:02.04	60.83	No. 1 in UNO All-Time Outdoor Top 10
Michael Batson	800m	1:56.42	1:49.66	No. 1 on UNO All-Time Outdoor Top 10
Farydah Inoussa	Hep	4758 (U-18)	5248	No. 1 on UNO All-Time Outdoor Top 10
Karl Saluri	Dec	7493 (U-18) (Junior Implements)	7497 (Senior Implements)	No. 1 on UNO All-Time Outdoor Top 10

 

Dalton also served as a Kinesiology instructor at Louisiana State University during the time between finishing his graduate degree and beginning at the University of Texas. A native of England, Dalton received a Bachelor of Science with honors in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Bath, attending the University of Florida within that time, and received his Master of Science in Kinesiology from LSU. Dalton is IAAF Level V and USATF Level III certified in sprints and hurdles.