Adam Smith is in his fourth season at Ole Miss working with the Rebel cross country and distance programs in 2025-26. His first year he served as the assistant coach for cross country and distance on the track side, and has been the associate head coach for cross country since 2023.

Smith arrived at Ole Miss prior to the 2022-23 school year, and has continued to keep the Rebel distance squad among the premier programs nationally.

In 2024, the Ole Miss men's cross country team notched a team berth to return to the national meet, where the Rebels finished 25th overall. Ole Miss earned its way to NCAAs after earning an auto bid by finishing second at the NCAA South Regional, where three Rebels earned All-Region honors: Toby Gillen (6th), Elyas Ayyoub (7th) and Aiden Britt (13th). Loral Winn, owner of the fastest 6K time in Ole Miss women's history and the most sub-20s ever by a Rebel, became the third Ole Miss woman to qualify as an individual.

At the SEC meet, the Rebel men finished third in the team standings with three All-SEC runners -- Gillen, Ayyoub and Evan Thornton-Sherman -- with Ayyoub earning SEC Newcomer of the Year honors. Winn, meanwhile, earned her first career First-Team All-SEC honors in seventh place.

On the track in 2025, Smith's runners scored 52 total SEC points across the indoor and outdoor seasons -- highlighted by a gutsy effort out of Gillen at the SEC Outdoor Championships. Gillen, who would go on to finish ninth nationally in the 5K for Second-Team All-America honors, won the SEC 5K just two days after nearly taking the 10K title as well.

The 2023 campaign saw the Rebel women earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships after a third-place team finish at the NCAA South Regional, which was highlighted by three All-Region honorees -- Loral Winn (6th), Ryann Helmers (15th) and Skylar Boogerd (16th) -- as well as five scorers within the top-30. At the national meet, Helmers recorded the highest national finish in Ole Miss women's history, earning All-America honors in 23rd place to lead the Rebel women to a 21st-place team finish. On the men's side, Cruz Gomez represented the Rebel men as an individual, finishing 66th place overall.

On the track in 2024, Smith's Rebel distance runners scored 26 total SEC points and were led by Toby Gillen, who earned an SEC silver in the 5K indoors before earning First-Team All-America outdoors in the 5K with his seventh-place finish.

In cross country in 2022, the Smith-led Rebel men earned their ninth consecutive NCAA qualifying berth as a team, helped by a second-place showing at the NCAA South Regional and one of the closest conference meet finishes in SEC history. In Oxford for the SEC Championships, the Rebels finished a tight fourth, with just five points separating the top-five teams -- the most teams within 20 points in SEC history. Anthony Camerieri led the charge all year, earning First-Team All-SEC and NCAA All-South Region honors before also leading the Rebel men at the national meet with a 55th-place finish.

The Ole Miss women came heartbreakingly short of a team berth to NCAAs of their own, finishing third at the NCAA South Regional, but the Rebels were still represented by All-SEC and NCAA All-South Region runner Ryann Helmers, who put together the fastest women's XC season in recorded Ole Miss history. Helmers was the top runner for the Rebel women all season, during which she ran the fastest 6K time ever recorded by a Rebel woman at 19:37.2, and she also became the first known Rebel woman to break 20-minutes twice in the same season.

On the track in 2023, Smith's distance squad did some serious damage, scoring 99 total SEC points with several distinct honors along the way. The Ole Miss men's distance medley relay of Shane Bracken, Cade Flatt, Tiarnan Crorken and Anthony Camerieri put together a thrilling race at the national indoor meet, with Camerieri taking the mile anchor in 3:57.50 at altitude in Albuquerque to bring the Rebels from fifth to second in the final 100 meters.

Outdoors, an impressive season was highlighted by Smith's first SEC title from Kristel van den Berg in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase. In third at the bell, van den Berg kicked to take the lead at the first barrier and held it, winning at a new Ole Miss record 9:56.56. Across the indoor and outdoor season, Smith's Rebels reset nine total Ole Miss records in 2023.

Smith, an accomplished professional and collegiate coach, came to Oxford following four years coaching professional runners as part of the Reebok Boston Track Club. Prior, Smith was an assistant coach at Syracuse for six years, where he helped lead the Orange to the 2015 NCAA men’s cross country title amid a slew of other achievements.

In total as a collegiate coach on the track across prior stops at Syracuse and his alma mater, North Carolina, Smith tutored one NCAA Champion, four NCAA runners-up, 28 All-Americans and 10 ACC Champions, while his athletes scored 714 total conference points and 74 NCAA points – leading to a conference title at Syracuse indoors in 2016 (men) and four NCAA top-25 team finishes.

As a cross country coach prior to Ole Miss, Smith mentored one NCAA Champion, one NCAA runner-up, 13 All-Americans, 44 all-conference performers and six conference champions. As a team, Smith has been part of the aforementioned 2015 NCAA men’s title team at Syracuse, as well as 10 NCAA top-25 team finishes – four of which were in the top-10 – in addition to six consecutive conference team titles during all six years he was with the Orange.

Smith took the reins of what has become one of the most elite distance programs in the NCAA at Ole Miss, which has recently soared to new heights both on a conference and national level both in cross country and track & field.

Smith’s time with the Reebok Boston Track Club, which he helped found with head coach and former Syracuse head coach Chris Fox, saw him coach the likes of Olympians Justyn Knight (Canada) and Amy-Eloise Markovc (United Kingdom) in addition to several other globally prominent professional distance runners.

Knight most recently was an Olympic finalist in the 5K for his native Canada, finishing seventh at the Tokyo Games. Smith’s relationship with Knight dates back to helping recruit him to Syracuse, where on the track he was an eight-time All-American, three-time NCAA runner-up and the 2018 NCAA Indoor champion in the 5K in a career that saw him end with the fourth-best outdoor 5K (13:17.51) and sixth-best outdoor 1500-meter (3:36.07) times in NCAA history. Knight was one of the best NCAA cross country runners of his era as well, earning All-America honors three times while winning the 2017 NCAA individual title and leading the Orange men to the 2015 NCAA team title – the first win for Syracuse since 1951.

Amy-Eloise (Neale) Markovc ran collegiately at Washington, but with Reebok made the Tokyo Olympic team for the United Kingdom in 2021 in the 5K, where she ran a PR of 15:03.22. Markovc has made Great Britain’s world team for the 2022 World Athletics Championships after winning the U.K. title in the 5K – her second World appearance in her pro career with Fox and Smith.

Other professional runners Smith helped coach include: Canadian and former Michigan NCAA Champion Ben Flanagan; 2022 World Indoor finalist in the 1500-meter Josette Norris of the United States; Americans and former Syracuse runners Colin Bennie, Martin Hehir and Paige Stoner, all of whom are currently among the top marathoners in the United States; and Ole Miss NCAA Champion and All-American, Robert Domanic.

Knight was a program changer for Syracuse, who Smith helped recruit and coach during a historic run in Orange program history. In cross country during Smith’s six-year tenure, Syracuse notched eight NCAA top-25 team finishes – six of which came from the Orange men, with four in a row in the top-10 throughout Knight’s career. That culminated with the national title in 2015, an 82-91 victory over preseason favorites Colorado spurred on by four All-American finishers: Knight (fourth), Colin Bennie (eighth), Martin Hehir (ninth) and Philo Germano (39th).

Syracuse was also dominant on a conference level during Smith’s time, winning six consecutive men’s conference titles – one Big East win in 2012, followed by five straight ACC wins from 2013-17. Smith also coached five individual conference champions while with the Orange, with Knight (2016, ’17) claiming two, Hehir (2012, ’14) nabbing two as well, and on the women’s side All-American Paige Stoner winning the ACC crown in 2017 to give Syracuse the individual title sweep.

On the track, Smith’s athletes scored 664 conference points throughout his Syracuse tenure (545 ACC, 119 Big East), with eight ACC Champions and the first conference team title for the Orange since 1992 with a men’s win indoors in 2016. On the national stage, the Orange tallied four NCAA top-25 team finishes thanks to 74 NCAA points and 27 First or Second-Team All-Americans.

Smith coached at his alma mater North Carolina from 2010-12, helping the Tar Heel women in a volunteer capacity during the 2010 and 2011 cross country seasons and the 2011 track season before being promoted to an assistant coach for the 2012 track season. Smith was part of a 14th-place national cross country finish for the UNC women in 2010, led by two-time All-American Kendra Schaaf (11th place), who also won the ACC title in 2011. On the track in those two seasons, Smith’s 800-meter women scored 50 conference points and won two ACC titles courtesy of Tasha Stanley.

Smith is a 2010 graduate of North Carolina, where he earned a bachelor’s in American history with a minor in coaching education while competing for the Tar Heels in cross country and track & field. He was a two-time All-ACC scorer, first as the ACC runner-up in the 800-meter and then on UNC’s title-winning distance medley relay indoors in 2009. Smith served as the men's team captain his junior and senior years and was a Carolina Leadership Academy 3DL Award Winner.

Adam Smith Coaching Career • At a Glance
2023-Present – Ole Miss – Associate Head Cross Country Coach, Assistant Track & Field Coach (Distance)
2022-23 – Ole Miss – Assistant Coach
2018-2022 – Reebok Boston Track Club – Assistant Coach
2012-18 – Syracuse – Assistant Coach
2012 – North Carolina – Assistant Coach
2010-12 – North Carolina – Volunteer Assistant Coach

Adam Smith's Ole Miss Cross Country Career • By the Numbers
3 NCAA Top-25 team finish (2 men, 1 women)
3 NCAA team berths (2 men, 1 women)
3 NCAA individual berth (1 man, 2 women)
18 NCAA All-South Region runners (10 men, 8 women)
11 All-SEC runners (7 men, 4 women)
2 SEC Scholar-Athletes of the Year (1 man, 1 woman)
1 SEC Newcomer of the Year (1 men)
13 USTFCCCA All-Academic individual honors (5 men, 8 women)
6 USTFCCCA All-Academic team honors (4 men, 4 women)
1 CoSIDA Academic All-American (Ryann Helmers, 2023)

Adam Smith's Ole Miss Track Career • By the Numbers
2 NCAA Top-25 team finishes (2 men)
1 NCAA Outdoor Top-25 team finish (1 men)
1 NCAA Indoor Top-25 team finish (1 men)
4 NCAA Runners-Up (4 men)
4 NCAA Indoor Runners-Up (4 men)
7 NCAA First-Team All-Americans (7 men)
2 NCAA Outdoor First-Team All-Americans (2 men)
5 NCAA Indoor First-Team All-Americans (5 men)
14 NCAA points (14 men)
3 NCAA Outdoor points (3 men)
11 NCAA Indoor points (11 men)
11 NCAA qualifiers (10 men, 1 women)
6 NCAA Outdoor qualifiers (5 men, 1 women)
5 NCAA Indoor qualifiers (5 men)
34 NCAA East Region qualifiers (24 men, 10 women)
2 SEC Champions (1 man, 1 women)
2 SEC Outdoor Champion (1 man, 1 woman)
12 SEC medalists (11 men, 1 women)
5 SEC Outdoor medalists (4 men, 1 women)
7 SEC Indoor medalists (7 men)
177 SEC points (127 men, 50 women)
82 SEC Outdoor points (63 men, 19 women)
95 SEC Indoor points (64 men, 31 women)

Adam Smith NCAA Cross Country Coaching Career • By the Numbers
1 NCAA Men’s Team Championship (2015)
1 NCAA Men’s Individual Champion (Justyn Knight, 2017)
1 NCAA Men’s Runner-Up (Justyn Knight, 2016)
13 NCAA Top-25 Team Finishes (8 men, 5 women)
4 NCAA Top-10 Men’s Team Finishes
14 All-Americans (10 men, 4 women)
55 All-Conference performers (41 men, 14 women)
11 All-SEC (7 men, 4 women)
37 All-ACC (28 men, 9 women)
7 All-Big East (6 men, 1 woman)
6 Conference Team Titles (5 ACC, 1 Big East)
6 Conference Individual Titles (5 ACC, 1 Big East; 4 men, 2 women)
51 USTFCCCA All-Academic individual honors
18 USTFCCCA All-Academic team honors
2015 USTFCCCA Men’s Academic Team of the Year
9 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans

Adam Smith NCAA Track Coaching Career • By the Numbers
1 NCAA Champion (Justyn Knight, 2018 Indoor 5K)
8 NCAA Runners-Up
36 First or Second-Team All-Americans
88 NCAA Points
6 NCAA Top-25 Team Finishes
11 Conference Champions
2 SEC Champions
10 ACC Champions
2016 ACC Indoor Team Champions (Men)
891 total conference points scored (595 ACC, 119 Big East, 177 SEC)

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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