Mike Smith, the highly successful Director of Cross Country & Track and Field at Northern Arizona University, will step down from his role at the end of the 2024-25 season. Jarred Cornfield, the current associate head coach of distance and mid-distance, will take over the program in July 2025.

Here’s what you need to know:

– Smith joined NAU in 2016 and quickly transformed the Lumberjacks into a national powerhouse in collegiate distance running when he took over for coach Eric Heins in 2017. Under Smith’s leadership, the men’s cross country team has won five NCAA titles including a threepeat from 2020, 2021 and 2022. The men’s cross country team has also not finished lower than second at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Smith also played a crucial role in elevating the women's team, which achieved its best national finish since 1992 with a runner-up finish last year. In 2022, Smith signed a five-year contract extension with NAU.

– Cornfield, who has been with NAU since 2015, has worked closely with Smith throughout his tenure.

– Runners World reports Smith is set to become a Nike professional coach. Smith currently coaches Nike distance runners Abdihamid Nur and Woody Kincaid, who qualified for the U.S. Olympic team and competed in Paris. Nikki Hiltz, Nico Young, Elly Henes, Luis Grijalva and Rachel Smith are the non-Nike sponsored pros in his training cohort in Flagstaff. Smith coached Nur and Young to NCAA individual titles on the track.

Smith also coaches 2012 Olympic silver medalist (10,000m) and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist (marathon) Galen Rupp, who is based in Portland, Ore.

– This past season, Smith coached Young to the NCAA indoor 3000m and 5000m titles before he went on to break the 5000m (12:57.14) and 10,000m (26:52.72) records.

What they had to say:

– Mike Smith issued the following statement in the NAU press release:

"For the past eight years I have lived out a professional dream coaching at Northern Arizona University. It has been my greatest privilege to work with the most loyal and brave student athletes a coach could ask for. We walked a path together through unforgettable moments in our sport, yet I was always most proud of who they became and who they were to each other along the way. It's been an honor of a lifetime to coach at NAU…

My wife Rachel and I want to express gratitude for the amazing NAU community we have been a part of. We received unyielding support from past President Rita Cheng and current President José Luis Cruz Rivera. Lastly, our success would have been impossible without the guidance and leadership of Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics, Mike Marlow. I am proud and excited to hand over the reins to Associate Head Coach Jarred Cornfield, who has been by my side for every inch of this journey at NAU. There is no one I trust more to carry on the great tradition of this program and lead our student athletes with integrity and heart.

I am excited to remain in Flagstaff as both a fan and supporter of Coach Cornfield's chapter of leadership at NAU, as well as continuing my work within the greater Flagstaff running community, concluded Smith. "For now, I am focused on the work ahead of us for the 2024-25 seasons."

Cornfield said: “I am absolutely thrilled and humbled to be entrusted with the future leadership of this wonderful program. Thank you to Mike Marlow and Mike Smith for amazing support in this transition…I've worked side-by-side with Mike Smith for eight year and I'll forever be grateful for his mentorship, leadership and belief in me. He is truly one of the best ever to coach in the NCAA and I'm excited to celebrate him and work hard in this final year working together as Lumberjacks.”

What comes next:

– Smith will continue to lead the program through the 2025 outdoor track season.

– NAU’s cross country teams set to kick off their campaign on August 31 at the George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff.

– Cornfield will officially take over as Director in July 2025.

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