A veteran high school track & field coach and former Big East sprinter at Rutgers University and West Virginia, Haneefah Norman joined the Rutgers-Newark staff in November 2012.
Her athletes have claimed 20 state, a dozen Essex County and 35 conference championships. Her 2005 boys’ team claimed the Non-Public B state title.
In 2009, she coached Nike All-American Dominique Booker to the Meet of Champions 55-meter dash championship and the fastest time by a high school girl in the event for the season. Booker is now a sprinter at the University of Kentucky. In 2011, Mirabel Nkenke was second in the Meet of Champions in the 400-meter dash for Immaculate Conception. Nkenke is a sophomore on Georgetown University’s track team.
With a USATF Level 1 & Level 2 Coaches Certificate, she has developed athletes in sprints, hurdles and relays.
“I love developing athletes into becoming amazing people and great athletes,” Norman stats. “Coaching is my passion!”
While a member of indoor and outdoor track & field teams at Rutgers University and West Virginia, Norman earned eight letters while earning All-BIG EAST status in the 100-meter dash and the 4 x 100-meter relay twice. She was a three-time All-ECAC performer in the 100. She ran on a BIG EAST champion 4 x 100-meter relay unit at West Virginia which qualified for the NCAA Nationals.
At Elizabeth High School, Norman was a two-sport all-star who played on a state championship basketball team and won Eastern Championships in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. She totaled eight letters in the two sports, earning all-state honors in the 100 and 200 as well as All-Union County and all-conference laurels in both sports for the Minutemen. She was a member of 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400-meter relay units which earned all-county status.
Between high school and college competition, she earned three Penn Relay medals in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400.
Norman, who earned a bachelor of arts in labor and employment relations from Rutgers University in 2002, works as an office administrator for the City of Orange Township, but it’s coaching that drives her ambition.
