NAU’s Mike Smith Named USTFCCCA Men’s Track Coach of the Year
NEW ORLEANS, La. (March 27, 2020) – Northern Arizona Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Mike Smith has been named the National Men’s Track Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Friday.
Smith was previously named the Big Sky Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year and was also named the Mountain Region Coach of the Year.
Smith, in his fourth year at the helm of the Lumberjacks program, becomes the first coach from the Big Sky to earn National Track Coach of the Year honors. Smith adds this award to his two Bill Dellinger awards that go to the National Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. The four-year coach earned those awards in 2017 and 2018.
The NAU men’s track and field program was guided by Smith to their first-ever No. 1 national ranking in the USTFCCCA polls where they would sit for two weeks. Heading into the final week of the season NAU was ranked No. 2 in the polls.
In addition to the national team ranking, Smith also had seven athletes qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Under Smith this season, the Lumberjack men won their ninth straight Big Sky Indoor Championship and their 23rd in the program’s rich history.