Lawrence Givens has served as an assistant coach, working primarily with the jumpers, with the Coppin State track & field team since 2000.  He assisted with both men’s & women’s programs until they were split in 2002, and he regained management of the women’s jumpers in 2018.
 
In over 20 seasons as an assistant, Givens has helped five different Eagles win six MEAC titles across the horizontal and vertical jumps. Over 20 athletes have earned All-Conference honors with nine advancing to NCAA Regionals and one receiving All-America accolades.
 
Additionally, Givens has guided eight of the top ten men’s high jumpers and long jumpers and four of the top six triple jumpers.  His jumpers have gone on to break the school record in all three events. 
 
Helping Terrence Brown (2004) and Ian Lovergie (2007) to silver medal performances in the high jump at the MEAC Championships, Givens saw Brandon Miles, the program’s first NCAA qualifier in the jumps, win the MEAC Title in the long jump indoors in 2010. The following season, Brandon Baskerville, the program’s only 7-foot-high jumper, took the crown indoors in 2011. 
 
Three years later, Shane Green, the CSU record holder in the triple jump, won the event at the Indoor Championship before school-record holder Jeff Hammond took the long jump indoors in both 2022 and 2024.  Green reached the NCAA East Prelims in all four of his seasons, earning All-America honors in 2016 while also heading to Regionals in the long jump in 2014.
 
Hammond and James Bell, the 2024 MEAC Champion in the high jump, both qualified for the NCAA East Prelims in 2023.
 
Givens is a 1993 graduate of The University of Maryland-Eastern Shore with a degree in General Studies – Construction Management and excelled in the high jump where he was the 1990 MEAC Indoor & Outdoor champion.
 
Givens has a high jump personal best of 2.16m (7’ 1”). He is a native of Baltimore, Md. where he attended Northwestern High School and graduated in 1988.