With less than a month before their first meet of the new season, both the Oswego State men’s and women’s cross country teams were without a head coach. Now, two meets into the season, both teams are off to a strong start behind the leadership of their new head coach Jacob Smith. 

In August, Smith was named head coach of both the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Smith not only brings a lot of experience to his new office, but also great excitement about the role.

“Well it was a great opportunity to coach both a men’s and women’s cross country team at a state, or public school, which I really liked,” Smith said. “I have a history of coaching at public schools. I’ve coached at SUNY Cortland and at Christopher Newport University before. So, to me, it seemed like it was a good fit, because I have a pretty good understanding of how public schools work.”

Smith found great success in his time as an assistant coach at SUNY Cortland. Coaching there from 2007 through 2009, Smith led his teams and athletes to multiple NCAA Championship appearances. Smith even coached the 2009 men’s squad to the school’s only NCAA Championship in men’s cross country.

Even if his success from 10 years ago may not help him in his coaching today, it still has an effect on the athletes.

“Having that credibility [is huge],” Smith said. “Having that sort of experience and being able to tell people, ‘look, this is what you’re capable of’ and helping people understand what they are able to do.”

With a new coach, some difficult changes can arise for the athletes. Despite this, they seem to be taking the changes in stride and are enjoying their new coach. 

“I’m liking it so far,” sophomore Emily Gustafson said. “I like how he controls not just what our workouts are, what our running is, but more the things outside of that like our nutrition, our health, our recovery.”

Smith also has an interesting background beyond his years of coaching. Smith served in the U.S. Air Force for six years, including two tours of duty. To the surprise of some, this has had an impact on him as a coach.

“If you ask the athletes, I’m really not much of a drill sergeant,” Smith said. “That’s not my style at all. I’m really not like that and part of that might be because of my experience in the military. Because I experienced that first hand, I know that that wasn’t very motivating.”

Smith’s military experience has also taught him things beyond coaching. According to Smith, being in the military taught him many lessons, especially during his deployment in Iraq.

“I hope that breath of experience gives me more empathy,” Smith said. “[It] makes it easier for me to understand that people are dealing with things beyond, you know just training and competing. [Trying] to take into account the whole person.”

This is something that the players have noticed in their new coach. The mentality of being more than just a coach on the course but also in life is something that the players appreciate.

“He’s more focused [than past coaches] on our lives outside of running,” senior Eric Perez said. “How we sleep, how we eat, he’s always around. He’s trying to get to know us instead of being a coach from a distance.”

Smith is also open to talking with his athletes. Runners have noticed that their coach is concerned with their well being as well as their running.

“He’s very open minded,” junior Matthew Barbookles said. “If I got any issues, he’s very open. He’s not hard to talk to.”

This focus on the little things may have come from his time with the U.S. Olympic team. Smith both interned at the U.S. Olympic facility and worked as a coach for triathletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center later in his career. During his time as an intern, Smith had the opportunity to talk to many world-class coaches during the Altitude Training Symposium, who taught him a lot.

“They brought together a lot of the top coaches from a lot of different sports especially in terms of distance running, to this symposium,” Smith said. “So, I got to spend a lot of time with those coaches. I got to really talk with them and learn a lot about how they did things and what made them successful.”

When Smith returned to the U.S. Olympic Center as a coach for triathletes, he had another great opportunity. Smith said he got to work with some Olympians and World Champions during his time as a coach for USA Triathlon. Through working with these athletes, Smith learned valuable lessons. 

“How their mindset is critically important to their [Olympic athletes] success,” Smith said. “They’re super talented from a physical standpoint, but there are lots of people that are super talented physically who never make it to that level or don’t achieve as much at that level because they’re just not as good at doing all the other little things that go into recovering from training or maximizing training.”

All of these great experiences have contributed to Smith’s journey that has led him to Oswego State, a place where he hopes to continue his success and what he is passionate about.

“Coaching is what I love to do,” Smith said. “Being at practice everyday, just the day-to-day grind is for me kind of enjoyable.”

Graphic by Patrick Higgins | The Oswegonian