WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue track & field head coach Tony Miller announced the hiring of throws coach Ricardo Page and assistant coach Pashen Williams ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Page returns to Purdue after he served as the throws coach from 2021-24. He spent the 2024-25 season as the head coach of Georgia State’s women’s track & field program and led the Panthers to five qualifiers for NCAA East First Round.
In his three years at Purdue, Page led the throws program to four NCAA Championships qualifiers with Seth Allen (discus) in 2024, Johnny Venos (weight throw) in 2023 and Kelly Cook Jr. (hammer throw) and Kaia Harris (discus) in 2022. He also assisted with decathlete Isaiah Matin’s throwing events when he finished ninth at nationals in 2022.
“Ricardo is very familiar with the Big Ten and knows how to recruit the Big Ten,” said Miller. “He is a really good technical coach and someone this group of throwers admire and look up to. He has a bright vision on where our program can go from a throws perspective.”
Prior to Purdue, Page earned the men’s and women’s track & field and cross country head coaching position at Lane College in 2020-21, but the program opted out of the season due to Covid.
He served as the throws coach at UCF from 2018-20 where he coached two Knights to NCAA East First Round appearances. Page had his first stint at Georgia State as an assistant coach from 2014-18 where he coached the throws to three All-American honors and seven Sun Belt Conference individual titles.
Page was an assistant at Jackson State prior from 2012-14 where he coached the SWAC Champion in discus in 2012. He had his first graduate assistant position at Union College from 2010-11 where he assisted coaching one NAIA national qualifier. He began his collegiate coaching career as volunteer at Southern Mississippi in 2008-09 where he assisted two athletes to the NCAA East First Round.
Williams joins the Boilermakers to begin her full-time collegiate coaching career after she was a sprinter at Jacksonville from 2017-22. She was an eight-time ASUN Champion highlighted by five victories in the 4x400m. She was part of two 4x400m relay teams that qualified for the NCAA East First Round.
She was part of the school record 4x400m relay team both indoors (3:35.79) and outdoors (3:34.18). Her 53.96 in the 400m that won the ASUN outdoor title in 2018 is the No. 3 time in Jacksonville history.
After her collegiate career, Williams worked with current Purdue staff members Miller, Jamaal Barnes and Camille Ross assisting with the track & field team at Louisville from 2022-23 where she was a sports science intern.
“Pashen brought a lot of energy to our team at Louisville,” said Miller. “She is good with the analytical stuff that I like to do. She can help us develop our young sprinters and will be a great asset as we move forward.”
Other post-college work for Williams included working as a research assistant at Jacksonville, physical education teacher at Tallahassee School of Math and Science and STEM teacher at Florida State University Schools.
The hiring of Page and Williams rounds out Purdue’s coaching staff for the 2025-26 season.
