Michael Tornifolio is entering his 11th season at College of Charleston and was promoted to track and field head coach in May 2024. He had been associate head coach since May 2019 and served as interim head coach during the 2023-24 academic year. He works primarily with the Cougar jumpers, sprinters and multi-event athletes.
During his time at Charleston, Tornifolio has coached a pair of CAA champions in Julisa Tindall and Luzy Lieger. Tindall holds the school record in the indoor and outdoor high jump and won the CAA title in 2015 and 2016. Lieger took first place in the pole vault at the 2023 and 2024 indoor and outdoor conference meets and holds both school marks while also setting the CAA indoor pole vault record.
Both athletes also earned multiple trips to the NCAA East Regional Meet and spots on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, and Tindall qualified for the 2015 USATF Outdoor Championships.
In addition to Tindall and Lieger, five other Tornifolio-coached athletes have earned spots on the podium at CAA Championships. That group includes pole vaulters Chloe Christian, Tonet Tallie and Madison Jent as well as RoShani Glover (triple jump) and Jenny Martin (heptathlon).
Tornifolio also mentored Kaitlynn Bailey, who established herself as one of the top sprinters in school history with school records in the outdoor 100 and 200 and the indoor 60 and 200. At the 2024 CAA Outdoor Championships, she became the first Cougar to qualify for the finals in the 100 since Charleston joined the conference in 2013.
In all, Tornifolio has coached athletes who account for 59 indoor Top 10 and 54 outdoor Top 10 marks in the Cougar record book, and the school record in 14 events is held by athletes that he has guided.Â
Tornifolio began his coaching career as an assistant at Southern Utah where his athletes produced 32 Top 10 school marks including records in the men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon. He also coached a two-time West Regional qualifier in the men's high jump.
He moved on to an assistant's position at West Virginia where he worked with all facets of the Mountaineer program. While overseeing the women pole vaulters, his athletes earned Big East and Big 12 all-conference honors, established new school indoor and outdoor records and had a two-time East Region qualifier.
Tornifolio's next stop was at Illinois State, helping the Redbird vaulters to their best season in school history and coaching the program's first male Missouri Valley Conference champion. He also guided a female vaulter to indoor and outdoor school records, and the school had a male and female athlete qualify for the NCAA West Regional for the first time in school history.
Following his tenure at Illinois State, Tornifolio had a stint at Buffalo before heading to Charleston.
Tornifolio was a student-athlete at Ohio Wesleyan where he was a six-time all-conference honoree including a championship in the pole vault. He earned a bachelor's degree in sport science from Ohio Wesleyan in 2008 and received a master's in exercise science, fitness and wellness from Fairmont State in 2014.
Tornifolio and his wife, Diane, are the parents of a daughter, Stella and black lab Sullivan.
