Artie Smith is beginning his ninth season as a cross country and track coach at his alma mater in 2007-08. During his tenure with the Big Red, he has helped guide the women’s cross country team to an NCAA appearance and three ECAC championships, and the women’s track and field team to the last 12 Heptagonal titles (indoor and outdoor 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007). During his time at Cornell, five female harriers have qualified individually for the NCAA cross country championships and sixteen women have competed at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Those Cornellians have earned eight All-America accolades. Over the past four years, the Cornell women have had two different 800 meter runners, a steeplechaser and three different 5000 meter runners compete at the NCAAs.
Before returning to Cornell, Smith spent three years as a graduate assistant at Duke University, where he worked with the men’s and women’s cross country and track teams. In 1998, Smith’s third season as an assistant, the Duke men qualified for the NCAA cross country championships for the first time since 1971 and saw their first-ever individual NCAA qualifier on the women’s side. During the track season, Smith worked with the middle distance and distance groups at Duke.
A coach at Cornell since 1999, Smith completed his Ph.D. in history from Duke University in 2006. His dissertation, which utilizes oral history as well as traditional documentary sources, is entitled "Coaching and Community During Jim Crow: A History of the Golden Era of the CIAA," and tells the story of the first intercollegiate athletic conference among Historically Black Colleges. He earned his master’s degree in history from Duke in 1998, writing a thesis that explores the role of sport in African American communities during Jim Crow. Smith also has a USATF Level I coaching certificate. Since 1997, Smith has served as a consultant with CBS, NBC, USA and ESPN in the coverage of the Penn Relays, the NCAA championships, the USATF championships and the Olympic Trials, among other meets. Smith also serves as the administrator for the Big Red’s summer cross country and track and field camps.
A 1996 cum laude graduate of Cornell with a double major in history and Africana studies, Smith captained the Big Red cross country squad his senior year and was president of the Red Key Athletic Honorary Society.
As an athlete for the Big Red, he was the recipient of the John Reif Memorial Award, the John Moakley Award and the Clarence Spindler Award. Smith competed in the distance events while an undergraduate at Cornell and works primarily with the women’s cross country team and women’s middle distance and distance groups in track.
A native of Oak Park, Ill., Artie is single and resides in Ithaca.
