‘I feel at home here’: Winthrop track alum returning as assistant coach
Mashario Morton roamed the Winthrop University hallways like she had many times before.
It was early June — classes were out and students dispersed for the summer. Just a few days prior, she was hired as the university’s assistant track and field coach.
She pulled out her phone and received a Facebook notification. It was exactly ten years since she graduated from Winthrop.
“Even now when I talk about it, I get chills,” she said.
Morton, now 33, returns to the university where she competed as a thrower from 2013 to 2016. Winthrop track and field head coach Raffael Craig called her “one of the most accomplished” athletes in school history after her hiring.
For Morton, it’s a journey back home to the university that sparked her career, and a community she’s grown to love.
Morton never thought she would have a career in coaching. She graduated from Winthrop in 2016 with a degree in theater performance, and did audiovisual work for corporate shows and concerts for a year.
Morton’s coaching journey began in 2017. She was an assistant girl’s basketball coach when she received an offer from her alma mater, Dixie High School in Due West, South Carolina, to become its girl’s track and field coach.
She produced 11 state champions in two years. The college ranks quickly began calling.
Morton became an assistant coach at Division II Newberry College in 2019. She was elevated to the program’s head coach two years later.
She turned the Wolves into a South Atlantic Conference contender, coaching 10 individual conference champions, three conference championship records and the highest team finish in program history in 2022.
Then, she received a call that the college was ending her contract.
“That took me for a limbo, because we just had our best finish in program history on both the men’s and women's side,” Morton said. “And that kind of paused everything for a little bit.”
Morton became the thrower’s coach at Catawba College, in Salisbury, N.C., for a year, producing two more conference champions. A former colleague noticed a coaching opening at Winthrop, and recommended Morton.
It was an opportunity she couldn’t turn down.
“All that stuff in my career had to happen for me to lead back here,” she said.
A return to roots
Morton grew up in Due West, a small town about two hours southwest of York County. She became one of the most dominant prep athletes in the state at Dixie High School, capturing six South Carolina state championships in discus and shot put.
She moved to Rock Hill in 2013 when she enrolled at Winthrop. It’s been her home ever since, even making the hour-plus commute from Rock Hill to Newberry and Catawba.
“I feel like once I moved to Rock Hill, it got a hold of me,” she said.
Morton said she’s met lifelong friends at Winthrop. When she got married to her wife, Jaylyn, many of her old track teammates were in attendance. She said being closer to home would also allow her more time with her six-year-old son, Tristan.
She added that her experience as a Winthrop student-athlete is the fuel behind her student-first coaching philosophy.
“I want to make sure we output good people in this world,” she said.
Morton admitted it was hard to leave Catawba, especially after leading the program to one of its most successful seasons in history. The homecoming was just too hard to resist.
“Winthrop is special,” she said. “I feel at home here.”
