Earlier this week, the University of Missouri announced that Kyle Levermore, a former assistant distance coach at Georgetown, will be joining the Tigers as the team's newest assistant distance coach.
The former Oregon and Arkansas distance runner will work under head distance coach Lindsey Anderson, an Olympian and former collegiate record holder, to help further the development of the Missouri men and women.
When pairing Levermore's recent introduction with the also-recent addition of fellow assistant coach Zak Montoya (who joined the team in January), the Tigers will now have three distance coaches on their staff.
Earlier this year, the NCAA Division One Council announced that they would be eliminating the voluntary coach designation across all sports, meaning that the max number of paid coaching positions allowed on collegiate sports rosters would increase.
In track and field, the max number of allowable paid coaching positions sits at 12 coaches. Volunteer coaches are still allowed in any capacity. The rule change will go into effect at the start of the 2023-24 academic calendar.
As a result, Levermore is likely one of many coaches who will be taking advantage of new opportunities that were once not available. In fact, one non-SEC coach who I spoke to earlier this spring, said that "The SEC is going wild with the addition of new coaches," and that there will be, "a lot of upwards movement this summer."
During his time with the Hoyas, Levermore played an integral role in the recruiting of top distance talents from the high school level and from the transfer portal.
According to The Stride Report, the Georgetown men have landed a top-10 distance-centric recruiting class in the NCAA over the last two ranked years (2021 and 2022). Levermore also played a role in bringing Robert Brandt from UCLA to Georgetown as a graduate transfer in the summer of 2020.
Earlier this year, the Hoyas also signed one of the best high school middle distance runners ever in Tinoda Matsatsa. The Maryland native and incoming freshman holds personal bests of 1:48 (800) and 3:58 (mile).
The Georgetown women, meanwhile, landed a handful of top transfers last year and were able to emerge as a top-10 team at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.
Levermore will be joining a Missouri distance program that, historically, has sat in the middle of the team standings as far as SEC cross country is concerned. The Tigers are, however, responsible for producing Karissa Schweizer, one of the greatest collegiate distance runners of all-time.
Luckily, Missouri was ranked by The Stride Report as having a top-10 distance-centric men's recruiting class this past year, giving the Tigers a strong nucleus to build around and a bright future as well.
It should also be noted that the University of Missouri will be hosting the NCAA XC Championships in the fall of 2025.