On June 11, 2024, Miles Smith became the 22nd head coach of ACU's storied track and field program looking to build a culture inspired by his collegiate head coach, Joey Haines, who was friends with Wes Kittley, ACU's former head coach who is now at Texas Tech.
With the late start to the recruiting season, Smith put a premium on development of the returning athletes while recruiting heavily for the 2025-2026 season. For the ACU women’s team, the team finished 5 th in team scoring with 50 points at the WAC Indoor championship – that included one champion (Ja’Dasia Sims in the high jump), 4 top-three finishers, and 7 athletes scoring points. At the WAC outdoors, the women finished 6th with 59 points, with 5 top-three finishers and 9 women scoring. The women had three women move onto the Top-10 ACU performers indoors and 7 move onto the list outdoors. On the season, 73% of eligible returning athletes notched personal bests indoors and a matching 73% outdoors with personal bests.
The ACU men’s team finished 5th with 61 points at the WAC Indoor Championship and 5th scoring 56 points at the WAC Outdoor Championship. At the indoor championship, the men had 4 top three finishers and 11 athletes scoring in individual events. Outdoors, the men had 1 champion (Canaan Fairley in the decathlon), 4 top-three performers, and 11 men score points. On the season, 7 men moved onto the ACU Top-10 list indoors and 4 outdoors. In a review of eligible returning athletes, 76% attained personal bests indoors and 87% hit personal best outdoors.
Prior to accepting the head coaching position, Smith served as Purdue's long sprint coach for six seasons as well as the program's lead spiritual coordinator. In his six seasons as an assistant coach in West Lafayette, Indiana, he coached seven NCAA Championship qualifiers and multiple All-Americans. Smith also saw 13 top-10 times in school history set by his runners, including the men's 4x400-meter relay team's record-setting performance at the 2024 Big 10 Championship meet.
Smith came to Purdue from Memphis, where he helped the Tigers sprint program to its finest performance in decades. In his two years as an assistant coach, he oversaw the men's team to a 20th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Additionally, Smith coached four NCAA championship qualifiers, four NCAA All-America Honorable Mentions, a program-high two American Athletic Conference (AAC) team runner-up finishes, 25 All-AAC performers and 10 program records.
Smith moved to the coaching ranks after a stellar professional track and field career. In 2005, Smith was a member of the gold-medal winning 4x400-meter relay at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Additionally, he was a United States Olympic Trials semifinalist in the 400-meters in both 2008 and 2012, and also a 400-meter finalist at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2005 (sixth place), 2009 (eighth) and 2011 (sixth).
As a student-athlete at Southeast Missouri, Smith earned All-America honors five times in the 400-meters (indoor and outdoor combined). A 15-time Ohio Valley Conference champion, Smith was named the OVC Athlete of the Year three times, in 2005, 2006 and 2008. He stills owns five school records, in the 400-meters (indoor and outdoor), 200-meters (indoor) and 4x400-meter relay (indoor and outdoor).
Smith graduated from Southeast Missouri in 2008 with a degree in mass communication. He was inducted into the Southeast Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014 and also elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Smith's family includes his wife, Michelle, and his five sons, Kyle (16), Milo (7), Mikko (6), Miles (2) and Mikyle (7 months).
