Former Red Dragon Curtis Merrick rejoined the Cortland coaching staff in 2024-25 and primarily works with the team’s sprinters and hurdlers. Merrick is a USTFCCCA certified Sprints, Hurdles, Relays and Jumping Events Specialist, and comes to Cortland after coaching on the scholastic level in Central New York for 14 years and at SUNY Oswego for almost five years. He coached at Cortland during the 2011-12 school year.
Most recently at SUNY Oswego, Merrick coached athletes to nine school record breaking performances; during that time he mentored student-athletes to 11 all-conference awards, two all-regional awards, and two athletes earning All-America status.
Merrick was the boys' track and field head coach at Liverpool High School from 2001-05 and was an assistant coach at Cicero-North Syracuse High School from 2006-11. He coached a total of 17 different high school All-Americans, including a national champion girls' Distance Medley Relay and a national runner-up in the boys' Distance Medley Relay.
Merrick has also coached 24 New York State championship medalists, including athletes who won three individual New York State Federation titles and four individual New York State crowns. During his tenure his athletes broke 12 different Section Three records while one of his athletes broke the New York State 8th-grade record for the 1,500 meters.
Merrick is a full-time physical education teacher in the North Syracuse Central School District. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cortland in 1998 after transferring from SUNY Brockport. Merrick also earned a master’s degree from Cortland in 2005. At both Cortland and Brockport, he competed as a jumper and hurdler and was also a football defensive back. A graduate of Liverpool High School, Merrick was an all-league jumper and hurdler under Hall of Fame Coach Oscar Jensen.
From 2013-15, Merrick competed as an amateur in natural (drug tested) bodybuilding shows and was able to earn his professional card in 2015. From 2016-2017, Merrick competed as a professional natural bodybuilder before returning to coaching. Merrick has also worked as a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer for more than 20 years, helping a wide variety of clientele reach their fitness goals.
A native of Liverpool, N.Y., Merrick resides there with his wife, Bonna, and their two sons, Curtis and Chris.
