Cecilia Francis begins her first season as the Assistant Coach of the Cumberland track and field program after a very successful stint as a student-athlete and coach at Middle Tennessee State.

Prior to Cumberland, Francis served as an athletic coaching intern on the Middle Tennessee State University track & field team for one semester. During her tenure as a student intern, Francis helped recruit, manage resources, enforce discipline, and plan/schedule programs for practices. She trained three athletes to achieve All-American titles and five Conference USA champions.

Francis is a very well decorated athlete; she was a world championship representative and an All-African Games gold medalist for Nigeria in the women’s 4 x 100m relay in 2015. At MTSU, she was a Dean’s List student four times, Women’s track & field commissioner’s honor roll member three times, and a Conference USA Female Athlete of the week winner three times.

A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Francis earned her bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University in the spring of 2022 in Physical Education with a minor in Athletics Coaching.