Texas State Athletics

Fabien Corbillon is in his sixth year coaching the jumps, combined events, and pole vault at Texas State after serving the previous six years as the head coach at Wright State.
 
Corbillon’s jumpers and combined event athletes have been an integral part of the Bobcat teams’ success garnering eight Sun Belt Conference championships. In addition, he has coached five All-Americans, 26 Sun Belt champions, and 63 All-Conference honorees. His athletes have also set five Sun Belt Conference records and 12 school records. 
 
During the 2021 season, Katherine Stuckly earned NCAA Indoor Second-Team All-American honors after winning her second consecutive Sun Belt indoor high jump championship in 2021. Shelby Smith also won the long jump after leaping 6.14 meters, and Mathilde Canet set a new school record in the pentathlon by scoring 3,771 points in her first collegiate meet. Later, she broke her own school record and earned Second-Team All-Sun Belt Second-Team honors after tallying 3,831 points at the Sun Belt Indoor Championships. During the outdoor season, both Stuckly and Ronnie Briscoe qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary meet. Briscoe went on to earn Second-Team All-America honors at the NCAA Championships.
 
The shortened 2020 season saw the arrival of another impressive recruiting class for Coach Corbillon that left its mark in Texas State record books. First, Julien Olivas improved Ben Collerton’s school and conference record in his first heptathlon by scoring 5,500 points. Then, at the Sun Belt Indoor Championships, Olivas won the school’s third consecutive heptathlon title. In addition, three more of Corbillon’s athletes were Sun Belt champions. They were Briscoe (men’s long jump), Stuckly (women’s high jump), and Naomi Ferdinand (women’s long jump).
 
The 2019 campaign was another very successful season for the athletes mentored by Coach Corbillon. Ben Collerton won both the heptathlon and decathlon. Collerton improved his own school record and set a Sun Belt Conference record in the heptathlon with 5,379 points at the Sun Belt Indoor Championships. His heptathlon total was the second-highest all-time by a New Zealander. He also scored a personal best in the decathlon with the third-highest total that year in New Zealand.
 
During the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships, his jumpers had a historic first and second-place finish in women’s long jump. Naomi Ferdinand became Texas State’s first long jump champion after jumping 6.11 meters. Later that season, five of Corbillon’s athletes competed at the NCAA West Preliminary. They were Kylah Smith (100m Hurdles), Ferdinand (long jump), Live Hilton (long jump), Ronnie Briscoe (long jump), and Noah Herring (triple jump).
 
In 2018, Chelsie Decoud became the first Bobcat high jumper to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2009. She earned First Team All-American honors with an eighth-place finish, becoming Texas State’s first high jumper to do so since 2003. He also set the Sun Belt Conference indoor record after clearing 1.88m in the high jump to win her fourth consecutive Sun Belt Indoor championship.
 
Collerton also recorded a historic campaign under Corbillon’s tutelage when he set a school record and won the heptathlon with 5,115 points at the Sun Belt Indoor Championships.  He also won a gold medal with 7,148 points in the decathlon at the Sun Belt Outdoor meet.  He became TXST’s first decathlon champion in 20 years, and his point total placed in New Zealand’s top 20 scores.
 
Kylah Smith won the 60m and 100m hurdles at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships. She also qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary meet in the hurdles. His athletes also claimed Sun Belt Conference titles in the indoor and outdoor triple jumps (Alvin Chikaeze) and outdoor long jump (Ronnie Briscoe).

Chelsie Decoud earned All-American First Team honors for the second straight year in 2017. Decoud won her third consecutive gold medal at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships, captured her second successive gold medal at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships in the high jump, and set a school outdoor high jump record under Corbillon’s tutelage. In addition, Mylana Hearn advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump and earned All-American Honorable Mention honors.

Corbillon also coached 2017 NCAA West Preliminary qualifiers Alvin Chikaeze (triple jump), Abby Hani (long jump and 100m hurdles), Courtney Johnson (high jump), Michael Madu (triple jump), and Cody Schulz (long jump).
 
Corbillon came to Texas State after coaching sprinters, hurdlers, heptathletes, vertical and horizontal jumpers, and throwers at Wright State. After working three seasons as the assistant coach at Wright State, Corbillon ascended to the head coaching position.
 
Under his tutelage, Tiffany Brigham became the first athlete to qualify for an NCAA championship berth, and Cassandra Lloyd became the first All-American in school history. Year after year, he proved his versatility by coaching Wright State athletes to 203 school records and nine Horizon League records ranging across nearly every event in track and field. Those athletes went on to win 20 Horizon League Championships, and Wright State had 80 conference podium finishers under his watch.
 
Corbillon asserted himself as one of the top sprints and hurdles coaches following his early success, as proven by his work with Cassandra Lloyd. Shortly after Lloyd started working with Corbillon, she finished her freshman year with a fourth-place finish at the 2009 USA Track and Field Junior National Championships in the 100m hurdles. Under his guidance, she consistently improved her 100m hurdles performances and received multiple accolades during her collegiate career, highlighted by her two NCAA All-American awards in 2011 and 2012.
 
Following her graduation, Lloyd decided to trust Corbillon with her professional athletic endeavors. Her decision resulted in her competing at three USA Track and Field Indoor Championship finals and finished with two top-15 finishes at the USATF World Championship Trials.
 
During his tenure at Wright State, Corbillon also coached Sarah Ann Blount and Kacia Grant to USA Track and Field National qualifications. After a successful 2013 indoor season, Grant finished in the top 16 at the USATF Indoor Championships in the 60m dash. Following one of the best years a heptathlete ever had at Wright State, Sarah Ann Blount garnered two All-American nominations at the USATF Junior Olympics in the 100m hurdles and long jump.
 
Before his stint at Wright State, Corbillon started his coaching career in 2001 at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada, where he guided the sprinters. He then joined the coaching staff at Florida A&M, where he oversaw the jumpers, decathletes, heptathletes, and throwers.
 
In 2005, he and the rest of the FAMU staff coached the men’s track and field team to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships. While at FAMU, Corbillon also guided Kerry Dixon to a 2005 NCAA championship qualification in the high jump. In 2006, he coached Jermond Smith to a USA Track and Field National Indoor Championship qualification in the triple jump.
 
In addition to his wealth of coaching experience, Corbillon brings a unique dimension to coaching through his background in sport psychology counseling. As attested by his counseling work with elite athletes from all over the world, he attached prime importance to the development of athletes as a whole. As a result, he brought a new component to the growth of Texas State student-athletes.
 
Corbillon had a prolific academic career off the track, earning a Master of Science degree in kinesiology from Lakehead and a Master of Science in sciences and techniques of physical activities and sports at the University of Orleans in France. His publications are highlighted by his article in the Journal of Sport Behavior while working on a Ph.D. in sport psychology from Florida State University.
 
In addition to his academic recognitions, Corbillon earned an IAAF (World Athletics) level V Coaching Certification in combined events that he received with distinctions. He also obtained a USA Track and Field Level III Coaching Certification in multi-events and a USA Track and Field Level II Coaching Certification in combined events and jumps. Additionally, Corbillon obtained his USTFCCCA Strength and Conditioning Coach certification in 2021, accredited by the National Committee for Accreditation of Coaching Education (NCACE). In 2014, he attended the prestigious USATF Emerging Elite Coaches Camp in the sprints and hurdles events.
 
Fabien Corbillon and his wife, Flore, reside in New Braunfels with their two sons, Noah and Jackson.