Earlier this week, Ole Miss announced that Adam Smith would be taking over the Rebels' men's and women's distance programs. Smith is taking over for Ryan Vanhoy who shockingly left Oxford, Mississippi to take the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country job at Cal Poly.
Smith's introduction to Ole Miss came relatively quickly, less than two weeks after Vanhoy left to join the Mustangs. The Rebels' newest distance coach previously worked with Reebok Boston Track Club which currently features (or has featured) top distance names such Justyn Knight, Ben Flanagan, Martin Hehir, Amy-Eloise Markovc, Josette Norris, Colin Bennie and former Ole Miss standout Robert Domanic.
Smith also worked as an assistant coach at Syracuse for six years before joining former Syracuse head coach, Chris Fox, at Reebok Boston Track Club.
Smith also attended North Carolina, the same school that Vanhoy once ran for. In fact, both men were the Tar Heels' assistant coaches during the early-2010's.
Introducing an experienced coach who has worked with numerous top-tier athletes before could be favorable when it comes to retaining Ole Miss' best talents. On paper, Smith is someone who is familiar with Vanhoy and his training tendencies, giving the Rebels the closest thing to Vanhoy that a coaching replacement can be.
Now, all eyes turn to the next month as we await to see which standout talents on Ole Miss' roster, if any, will transfer to another program.
The biggest question, at the moment, is Cade Flatt. The Kentucky native is a high school megastar, known for his all-out racing tendencies and his 1:46 personal best for 800 meters (which was nearly a national record).
While it's unclear what his next steps are, Smith will now be tasked with retaining and building a roster that had incredible success during the Ryan Vanhoy era.