JOINED: 2017 (Graduate Assistant), 2019 (Assistant Coach), August 2023 (Associate Cross Country Head Coach / Track and Field Assistant Coach), Sept. 2025 (Track and Field / Cross Country Head Coach)

NEW ORLEANS – Associate Cross Country Head Coach and Assistant Track Coach Clayton O’Callaghan has been promoted to Track and Field / Cross Country Head Coach following the departure of Ben Hibbert.

“I want to thank Dr. Johnson and Vince Granito for this incredible opportunity. It’s exciting to see how much our Cross Country and Track and Field programs have grown since my time here as a student-athlete. I believe we can do some incredible things and look forward to continuing to build this program over the years to come,” said O’Callaghan.

Since his return to the Lakefront a little over two years ago Clayton has coached UNO student-athletes to 12 different All-Southland honors: Irene Bonanomi (2024 Outdoor 10000M), Baptiste Depril-Dupre (2024 Indoor 800M), Rebecca DeKay (2024 Indoor 3000M, 2024 Indoor 5000M, 2024 Outdoor 10000M), Matthew Hansen (2024 Indoor 3000M), Alexandra Weir (2024 Indoor Mile, 2024 Indoor 3K, 2024 Outdoor 1500M), Sophia Wolf (2024 Indoor 800M, 2024 Outdoor 800M).

The 2024 women’s track and field program set an indoor school record with 93 points, while the men’s finished with their second-highest points total in school history – 56. Combined the two programs took home seven gold medals – the most in program history with five coming from O’Callaghan’s distance program. The women’s DMR team of Emma Bourg, Trinity Bracey, Wolf and Weir won the program’s first gold medal in a Southland relay after coming from behind to defeat Lamar.

Outdoors the women scored 87 points – with 62 coming from the distance group. The Privateer women’s distance program’s 62 points were more than five women’s programs’ and four men’s programs’ entire point total at the 2024 Southland Outdoor Championships.

Tshwanelo Maruping, Weir, and Bourg all earned All-Southland Cross Country selections at the 2023 Championships after guiding the team to a second-place finish. Bourg was also named Southland Freshman of the Year – the first cross country women’s freshman of the year in any conference in school history. Evan Pardo also earned Southland Newcomer of the Year at the 2023 Southland Championships.  

O'Callaghan returned to UNO in August of 2023 after serving as an assistant Track and Field / Cross Country coach and recruiting coordinator at Southeastern from 2021 to 2023. Highlights during his time in Hammond include coaching four individual Southland Champions (Noah Kiprotich – 2023 Indoor 800M, Bradley Makuvire – 2022 Indoor 3000M, Indoor 5000M and 2021 Cross Country), coaching eight All-Southland selections, and his student-athletes broke Southeastern’s Distance Medley Relay, and Outdoor 10,000 meter records.

Makuvire was also the first USTFCCA National Runner of the Week in Lions history, 2021 Southland Conference Male Athlete of the Year, 2021 Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association Co-Runner of the Year, the 2022 Southland Conference Indoor Runner of the Year and an NCAA Cross Country Championship qualifier under O’Callaghan’s tutelage.

Clayton first joined the staff as an assistant coach at UNO as a graduate student in July of 2017. For two years O’Callaghan served a dual role at UNO – both as an assistant coach for cross country and a student enrichment specialist. In his role as student enrichment specialist, he helped organize community service events and projects for all student-athletes on the Lakefront.

Promoted to full-time assistant in 2019 he was instrumental in the early development of former Privateer cross country great Arina Kleshchukova. During his two seasons as a full time assistant, Kleshchukova was  named All-Southland twice, All-Louisiana twice, Southland Runner of the week five times, the 2018 Southland Newcomer of the Year, and was USTFCCCA All-Region in 2019. In 2019 Arina won four races, finished second at the Florida State Invitational and 10th at the NCAA South Central Regional to become only the second Privateer to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Aaron Albert, Kolyn Saltzman (twice), and Jaden Forester were also named All-Southland selections during O’Callaghan’s first stint as a Privateer assistant. Saltzman also earned the first of his three USTFCAA All-Region selections with O’Callaghan as a member of the staff.

A former Privateer student-athlete between 2013 and 2017, he still holds the program record in the 1K event and was a member of the first school’s recruiting class when the track and field / cross country program returned in 2012. He also held the third-fastest time in school history in the 10K and held a top-five mark in the 5K when he finished his time as a student-athlete on the Lakefront. 

Excelling as more than just a distance runner while an undergraduate at UNO, O'Callaghan served as team captain and cross country representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and served as the SAAC secretary/treasurer during his senior season. O'Callaghan finished his time as a student-athlete as a two-time Academic All-American and a seven-time member of the Southland Conference Commissioner’s List. He also was the recipient of the Mr. Privateer award to close his time as a student-athlete on the Lakefront.

O’Callaghan graduated from UNO with his undergraduate degree in Human Performance with a concentration in Physiology as well as a minor in Psychology from the University of New Orleans in 2017. He followed that up by earning his MBA at the University in 2019.

Clayton attended Catholic High School of Pointe Coupee (La.), where he still holds multiple school records and was a two-time all-state selection in track & field and cross country. From August 2020 until July 2021, he served as the track and field / cross country head coach for the Hornets, in addition to serving as the junior high athletic director. 

Clayton has the following USTFCCCA certifications: Technical Certification, Strength and Conditioning Certification, Level II Endurance Specialist, and their Master's Endorsement in the Long Distances. He currently resides in Slidell with his wife Maddie, and daughter Olivia.