How Miami Northwestern High’s track coach produces winners and Olympians

Miami Northwestern High track and field coach Carmen Jackson has quite the resume.

State championships? She has 19. Regional titles? She has 19. National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame? She was inducted in 2022.

The honors, however, mean very little to Jackson.

“I don’t even want the accolades,” Jackson, 67, said. “I just want my kids to be hall of famers in the classroom and on the track.”

With three former Bulls who qualified for the 2024 Olympics, she appears to have found the formula.

Three Northwestern graduates — Aaliyah Butler (USA), Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry (USA) and Lloydricia Cameron (Jamaica) — will represent their countries in the Olympics thanks in part to Jackson and the work ethic that she instilled in them during their years at Northwestern.

Butler and Terry will compete in the 400 and 100 meters, respectively, and Cameron will compete in shot put. Track and field events start on Aug. 1. Having also coached hurdlers Tiffany Ross-Williams and Brianna Rollins-McNeal, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2016 Rio Games, respectively, Jackson now has successfully sent five athletes to the Olympics during her more than 30 years of coaching.

“It lets me know that I’m on the right track on getting kids exposure,” Jackson said. “The most difficult part, however, is getting the kids to buy in.”

The buy-in ultimately set each of the three Olympians up for success. Butler, a 2022 Northwestern graduate and University of Georgia sprinter, was a three-time 3A state champion in the 400 meters, the same event she will compete in in Paris. She also won a state championship in the 200 meters.

“Aaliyah, she knew she wanted to get on that big stage,” Jackson said.

Terry, too, pulled in her fair share of state titles. After placing third in the 100 and 200 meters as a freshman, the 2017 graduate took the title for the following three years in both events.

“TeeTee was just a tough kid who wanted to be great,” Jackson said. Terry ran track at the University of Southern California before turning pro. “I’d ask her to drink five bottles of water a day and she’d drink the five bottles. She was determined and wanted to be better.”

Cameron, who graduated in 2014, competed in both discus and shot put during her time at Northwestern. She captured the state title for discus twice (2013 and 2014) and the shot put title three consecutive times beginning in 2012.

“Lloydricia’s work ethic was second to none,” Jackson said of the former University of Florida Gator. “She too was determined to be great and consistently stayed after practice.”

Though Northwestern is primarily known for producing football stars ranging from Amari Cooper to Teddy Bridgewater, athletes such as Terry want to show that Bulls can be track stars as well.

“It means a lot to represent Miami on a bigger stage, especially coming out of Miami Northwestern where there’s so many superstars,” Terry told YouTube show “Speak Your Piece with Denise” in June 2024. She specifically took pride in “showing the young girls that you can do what you need to do, you can travel the world and do what you love and you don’t have to become a victim of your environment.”

Interestingly, Jackson went to Northwestern rival Miami Jackson Senior High, where she competed as a 100-meter sprinter during the Generals’ state title-winning season in 1975, the first year that Florida had a state competition for girls’ track.

“My high school coach — coach Lula Bell Smith — left Jackson and went to Northwestern,” Jackson recalled. When she asked why, Smith said “‘the opportunity was better there.’” Then Smith said something that Jackson didn’t quite understand. “‘When I’m ready to give it up, you’ll be here.’”

And that’s exactly what happened. In 1980, she joined as an assistant coach. By 1991, she headed the track team, just as her mentor predicted.

“I didn’t believe her at first,” Jackson said. “She had a vision of her own.”

The title run began in 1999 and never quite stopped. Jackson even set a record for most consecutive track championships from 2009-2023 with 14. The secret to her success? Coaching more than just track.

“It’s not just about track,” assistant coach Pavi’Elle Phillips told the Miami Herald in 2023. “She makes sure the girls are great students. She develops them as young women. She molds them – making sure they are eating better, sleeping well, making good decisions and surrounding themselves with positive people. All of that allows the kids to buy in to her.”

After more than 30 years, Jackson has nothing left to prove. She could retire, rest on her laurels. Ask any Bull — she certainly has earned it. Jackson, however, has no interest in retirement. Her job gives her all the energy she needs.

“What keeps me motivated is my kids,” Jackson said. “Can they make it? Can I get them to change their mindset? I want to mold them to positive adults. I get my energy strictly because of the kids.”