O'Brian Bridges joined the Eastern Kentucky University track and field/cross country staff as a full-time assistant coach in 2015.
He spent the prior three seasons as a volunteer assistant under Rick Erdmann.
The former EKU standout from Sharon, Pennsylvania works primarily with sprinters and jumpers.Â
Several student-athletes have experienced tremendous success under Bridges' guidance. Tequan Claitt came to EKU as a walk-on in 2015 and has developed into one of the top high jumpers in the country. In 2017, Claitt shattered EKU's 35-year old record in the high jump with a leap of 7-5.75 at the Hilltopper Relays. At the time, that jump was the best by any American and was ranked No. 2 in the world for the year. It also qualified Claitt for the USATF Outdoor Championships in California, where he competed against the top senior athletes in America.
Claitt is a three-time OVC gold medalist in the high jump and in May of 2017 he became the first Colonel male ever to be voted OVC Male Field Athlete of the Year.
Bridges has helped Yoshua Reed and Liz Marcinek to stellar achievements in 2017. Reed became the first EKU man ever to win OVC gold in the decathlon, recording conference-record 6,380 points at the outdoor championships in May. Marcinek, meanwhile, tied the EKU record in the women's long jump when she posted a leap of 19-6 at Louisville's Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational in April.
Before coming back to coach at EKU, Bridges was an assistant for sprints and hurdles at Sharon High School in his hometown. That year, he helped coach a boy's 300-meter hurdler and two boy's 400 meter runners to the PIAA State Track and Field Championships. Sharon's boy's 4x400 meter relay team also placed third at the state championships that year with a time of 3:23.
Bridges competed at EKU from 2003-07. As a senior, he ran the fastest indoor 60 meters time in the Ohio Valley Conference (6.84), and he was a multiple-time scorer at the OVC Championships throughout his career. In 2004, he finished eighth in the outdoor triple jump. In 2005, he finished fourth in the indoor 60 meters, fifth in the outdoor 100 meters and was a member of the 4x100 meter relay team that took bronze. In 2007, he was fourth in the indoor 60 meters, third in the outdoor 100 meters and was a member of the winning 4x100 meter relay team. That team went on to qualify for regionals in 2007.
