The 2024-25 is Raymond Rudder's seventh as head coach of the Lions track and field team. He was named to the post in May 2018 after spending the 2017-18 season as the interim head coach. In 2023-24, Rudder helped bring the Lions track teams back to conference and national relevance. The women's team finished fifth at the OUA championship – matching its best finish since the pandemic – and 10th at the U SPORTS championships, the best finish since an eighth place finish in 2019. Meanwhile, the men's team placed fifth at the OUA championship, their best output since a bronze in 2020.
Prior to being named head coach, Rudder was the full-time assistant for two years and spent one year as the multi-events coach. He has been with the Lions since 2015. He came to York with a wealth of experience working with professional sports teams and Olympic, world and collegiate athletes, as well as implementing youth development programs to successful elite junior athletes.
As the chief coach and manager of Athletics Barbados, he oversaw a number of tremendous performances by the country's track and field athletes, including Shakera Reece winning bronze in the women’s 100m at the 2011 Pan Am Games, Akeila Jones claiming gold in the women’s long jump at the 2014 world junior championships and Kion Joseph capturing bronze in the men's 400m hurdles at the 2011 Pan Am junior championships.
Rudder has a bachelor’s degree in physical education and sport from the International School of Physical Education and Sport in Cuba that he earned in 2006, and a master’s degree in management science from the Indiana Institute of Technology earned in 2014. He is also an IAAF Academy Level 5-certified chief coach and completed an internship at the IAAF High Performance Regional Development Center in Havana in the horizontal jumps.
He is an IAAF certified official and has diplomas in advanced sport management and sport administration from the International Olympic Committee and high performance track and field coaching from the Pan American Sport Organization. He is also a licensed teacher from the Ontario College of Teachers.
