Sean Smith

Sean Smith was named the head coach of Azusa Pacific cross country and an assistant coach for Cougar track & field in February 2021. Smith has helped guide the women’s track & field program to a pair of NCAA Division II national titles, as the Cougars were national champions in 2021 and 2023.

In the fall of 2022, Smith led the men’s cross country team to a historical season, as the Cougars qualified for Nationals for the first time in the program’s NCAA era with a third place finish at Regionals. The Cougars were led by All-Region runners Salvador Capetillo, Felix Perrier, Nixon Korir and Riley Burns. At the PacWest Championships a few weeks earlier, both the men’s and women’s teams placed as the conference runner-up.

In his first season leading Cougar cross country in the fall of 2021, Smith helped lead the men's team to their best-ever PacWest finish, as the Cougars placed second at the 2021 PacWest Championships. A few weeks later at Regionals, Smith’s men’s squad once again made program history, with the team placing fourth, which was Azusa Pacific highest-ever finish in the NCAA era. On the women’s side, Smith’s runners placed third in the PacWest in his first season. Smith produced a total of seven All-PacWest performers between the men and the women, and Mikayla Akers, who was among Smith’s first recruiting class, earned distinction as the PacWest Newcomer of the Year. Two Cougars were individual qualifiers for Nationals, as Josh Velasco and Justine Stecko each raced at the 2021 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships.

During the 2022 track season, Smith’s distance group had a great season. Azusa Pacific captured both the men’s and women’s PacWest team titles for the sixth-consecutive year, with several distance runners turning in great performances at the PacWest Championships. Ayrton Ledesma was named the Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet, as he was the conference champion in the 1500m and steeplechase, setting the meet record in both events, and he was also the runner-up in the 5K. On the women’s side, Jenny Sandoval was the conference champion in both the 10K and 5K. In total, Azusa Pacific won six distance events between the men and the women at the PacWest Championships. A few weeks later at the NCAA Championships, Smith had two runners achieve All-American status, highlighted by an individual national title in the 10K by Sandoval. In the men’s steeplechase, Nixon Korir placed seventh to earn All-American distinction.

In Smith’s first few months in Azusa, he was a part of the track & field coaching staff that captured Azusa Pacific’s first-ever NCAA National Championship, as the women’s track and field team finished on top at the 2021 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Of the 81 points that the Cougars scored at the Championships, 13 came from Jenny Sandoval, who was an All-American in two distance events, finishing as the national runner-up in the 10K, and fourth in the 5K.

Prior to Azusa Pacific, while most NCAA seasons were on hold, Smith coached professional athletes through the COVID-era, 4 of whom competed at the USA Track & Field Championships in events ranging from 1500m to 10,000m. He helped guide Ayla Granados and Jenna Hinkle to personal best times in the 1500, running 4:12 and 4:10 respectively. He coached Chico State school record holder, Hannah Dorman, and Cal State San Marcos school record holder, Natalie Rodriguez as they pursued post collegiate racing in the 5,000m and 10,000m. All of these athletes competed at the 2019 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Smith is no stranger to the PacWest Conference or Azusa Pacific, as his previous position in collegiate coaching was at former conference member Notre Dame de Namur, where he spent two seasons (2018-2019) as the head coach of cross country and an assistant track & field coach. In his first season with NDNU, Smith led the Argonauts to a third place finish on the men's side at the cross country conference meet, the highest in program history, and also coached two conference champions that year on the track. One of those conference champions was Jason Gomez, who went on to win the USA U20 1500m title and represented the United States and NDNU at the Pan American Championships in Costa Rica (Summer 2019).The following season, he helped the men’s cross country program elevate its performance to an even higher level, as the Argonauts finished second at the 2019 PacWest Cross Country Championships.

Prior to NDNU, Smith was the head cross country and track coach at Gillette College, a NJCAA DI Program in Gillette, Wyoming. At GCC, he was named the 2017 NJCAA National Championships Men’s Coach of the Year after he led his team to a fourth place finish at Nationals.. On the women's side, the only two runners on the team placed 1st and 4th at the NJCAA Region IX Championships and qualified individually for the national meet. Following the 2017 Cross Country season, Gillette College had three qualifiers for the NJCAA DI Indoor National Championships, including Ayrton Ledesma, who Smith helped coach to a national title in the 3,000m and a runner up finish in the mile. Ledesma claimed a second national title in the outdoor season as well, finishing first in the 3,000m Steeplechase.

Smith's first coaching stop was at regional powerhouse Chico State, where he was at from the fall of 2014 until the spring of 2017. While Smith was at Chico State, the Wildcats won three NCAA trophies (2015 - women, 2016 - men & women), six conference championships, and produced eight All-Americans in cross country. On the track, Smith helped distance athletes set five school records, produced 16 All-Americans, and the Wildcats won five conference titles. Smith also implemented a program for strength & conditioning and form analysis, in addition to his day-to-day activities.

Prior to his coaching career, Smith was a standout cross country and track & field student-athlete at the University of St. Francis (Joliet, Ill.), and then Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. At Lewis, he won back-to-back All-Great Lakes Valley Conference honors in both sports while helping lead the Flyers to the 2014 GLVC Indoor Track & Field Championship. He also excelled in the classroom, earning two United States Track & Field and Cross Country Association All-Academic awards, and was named to the National Honors Society and the 2014 CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Team. At St. Francis, Smith was the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Cross Country Freshman of the Year in 2009, and then was named the CCAC Runner of the Year the following year, helping the Fighting Saints win their first-ever conference cross country title. On the track, Smith earned All-America honors in both the 5,000-meter run and the 4×800-meter relay.

Smith, a native of Illinois, attended Winnebago High School in Winnebago, Ill., where he was the individual state champion in cross country and the 3,200-meter run while leading the Indians to the 2007 Illinois state team title.

Smith received his master's degree in Kinesiology from Chico State with an emphasis in biomechanics and strength & conditioning in 2017. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Lewis University in 2014.