Nkosinza Balumbu - Assistant Coach - Men's Track & Field Coaches

Nkosinza Balumbu

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
nbalumbu@csun.edu
Phone:
3242

Nkosinza Balumbu joined the CSUN Track & Field program as an assistant coach working with the jumpers in November of 2017. Balumbu brings eight years of coaching experience ranging from the high school to the collegiate levels.

Balumbu came to Northridge from Laney Community College in Oakland, Calif. where he coached women's jumps, sprints, and hurdles. His student-athletes placed first and second in both the long jump and triple jump events at the Northern California Junior College Championships. Laney College later went on to place second as a team at the NorCal championships and fifth at the California Junior College State Meet with a total of only five women on the roster. Balumbu coordinated the Oakland Athletic League High School Championships that were hosted by Laney.

Balumbu moved to Laney from the University of California (Berkeley) where he was an assistant coach from 2014-16 after serving as a volunteer assistant during the 2013 season. Balumbu instructed both the men's and women's jumpers and also instructed the multi-event student-athletes in their speed and jump work.

Balumbu guided freshman Walter Jones IV to a seventh-place finish in the Long Jump at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships with a lifetime best jump of 7.79m (25-7) earning him first team All-American status. At the 2015 Pac-12 championships Balumbu coached High Jumper Noel Frazier to a lifetime best performance of 2.16m (7-1). In 2014, Hammed Suleman won his third consecutive Pac-12 conference long jump title with a jump of 7.93m (26-0) and also gained a lifetime best triple jump of 16.27m (53-4) while his time at Cal. Suleman went on to represent Nigeria in the Commonwealth games later that summer.

On the women's side, Balumbu coached Isabella Marten to the 2016 MPSF and Pac-12 triple jump titles. Marten also gained two-time first team All-American honors with seventh-place finishes at both the 2016 NCAA Indoor and 2016 Outdoor Championships. She jumped a lifetime best of 43-8 at the 2016 Outdoor championships.

Malaina Payton became the MPSF indoor champion in the long jump in 2014. She finished her career with a lifetime best leap of 6.44m (21-1) and placed 11th at the 2013 USA Outdoor Championships. In 2013, senior Amanda Hunter improved tremendously within a short time elevating her personal best triple jump to 13.19m (43-3) at the NCAA outdoor championships. She followed that performance by finishing 12th at the USA Outdoor Championships.

During Balumbu's time as a student-athlete at the University of Arkansas, he won five SEC titles in the triple jump and was a seven-time All-American while being coached by Hall of Fame coach Dick Booth. He captured the 2008 NCAA triple jump title, which makes him the last individual national champion for the now retired legendary head coach John McDonnell. Balumbu was a 2008 and 2012 Olympic Trials Qualifier in the triple jump, achieving his highest finish of sixth place in 2012. Balumbu earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Arkansas in 2009.

A USATF level 2 certified coach and a track and field academy certified strength and conditioning coach, Balumbu hails from Union City, Calif., and graduated from James Logan High School, where he won two state triple jump championships (2004 and 2005). He returned to James Logan in 2010 to begin his coaching career.