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2013 Track and Field Media Guide
26 Olympians Produced
15 Individual National Champions
9
9
Throws Coach John Smith
in the shot put, discus and hammer at the championships in the
Dominican Republic.
A native of Portage, Ind., Smith joined the Saluki staff after
coaching 19 Big Ten Champions, 19 All-Americans, 12 na-
tional qualifiers (24 total events), four regional champions and
two NCAA Champions in five years as throws coach at Ohio
State University.
Smith’s 2004 OSU squad achieved perhaps the finest cam-
paign in his five-year stint. He guided the Buckeyes to five Big
Ten crowns and a pair of NCAA Championships. He also had
nine All-Americans and three Olympic Trials finalists on that
team.
Although Smith has coached a slew of magnificent throwers,
three that stood out in his tenure at OSU were Dan Taylor,
Keturah Lofton and Amarachi Ukabam.
Taylor, a nine-time All-American, two-time Big Ten Indoor/
Outdoor Male Athlete of the Year, Ohio State Athlete of the
Year and Region VAthlete of the Year, established OSU and
Big Ten records in the indoor weight throw. He also set OSU
standards in the hammer and discus during the outdoor seg-
ment. Most notably, Taylor became the first thrower in NCAA
history to win both the indoor shot put and weight titles at an
NCAA Championship.
Smith also helped establish one of the finest freshman cam-
paigns by an OSU student-athlete, as he mentored Ukabam to
Big Ten and NCAAMideast Regional titles in the discus. A
native of Missouri, Ukabam followed Smith to SIU, where she
was a four-time NCAAAll-American and broke four all-time
MVC records in her first season as a Saluki in 2005.
Prior to joining the Ohio State staff, Smith coached his wife,
Connie Price-Smith, a four-time Olympian, to 25 U.S. na-
tional titles in the shot put and discus combined. Price-Smith
captured the world indoor silver medal in the shot put in 1995
and placed fifth in the shot put at the 1996 Olympic Games,
the highest finish for a U.S. female shot putter since 1960. She
went on to claim the gold medal at the Pan-American Games
in 1999.
Before hitting the collegiate coaching scene, Smith was in-
volved with personal high school coaching in the shot put and
discus since 1980. He trained 20 Indiana state champions and
five Track & Field News High School All-Americans. Two of
his student-athletes were national champions and five were
named to the U.S. Junior National Team.
Smith was a track and field coach and the strength/condi-
tioning coach at SIU from 1984-86. During those years, he
coached four NCAAAll-Americans and nine Missouri Valley
Conference champions.
After graduating from Southern in 1984, Smith was a member
of two Olympic Festival teams and a part of the USA vs. Great
Britain national team. He participated in five national champi-
onships, with his highest finish being seventh in the shot put.
Smith was an All-American in the shot put and a winner of
eight MVC titles in the shot put, discus and hammer at SIU.
He still holds both the school’s indoor and outdoor, and MVC
shot put records today. Smith was named to the MVC’s All-
Centennial Team in 2007.
Coach Smith At A Glance:
• Three-time USTFCCAMidwest Region Assistant Coach or
Coach of the Year (2005, 2010, 2011).
• 52 MVC event titles, and 19 Big Ten Championships.
• 60 All-Americans, seven NCAA National Champions, nine
NCAA Runners-Up.
• His athletes have broken five Big Ten records, eight MVC
records, 14 SIU all-time records and one indoor world record
(weight throw, 83-10.05).
• Coached a throwing champion every year from 1987-2010
on the NCAA, USATF Senior, USATF Junior or high school
level.
• Smith’s athletes have made Olympic, World Indoor and
Outdoor, Pan American, Goodwill, World Cup, Grand Prix
Final, World Junior and Pan American Junior USA teams
with a total of 20 international medals among these teams.
• Brittany Riley was the 2007 NCAA Indoor National Athlete
of the Year under Smith’s guidance.