Paul Smith was promoted to Associate Head Coach of the Utah Valley University Track & Field programs in August of 2023 and enters his 16th year with the program this coming season.Â
Â
Smith has been with UVU since 2008 and specializes in sprints, jumps, and hurdles, and during his time has produced four All-American honors and 28 individual WAC Champions. He helped lead the Wolverines to WAC Championships in men’s outdoor (2015 and 2019) and an indoor men’s championship in 2015.
Â
Smith has produced 35 NCAA Championship qualifying athletes, including All-American sprinter Nicholas Taylor, who became UVU’s first-ever dual All-American with top-16 finishes in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. His most recent All-American came in 2022 when Aaron Johnson advance to the long jump finals.
Â
After the 2016-17 campaign, Smith was named Assistant Coach of the Year at the Wolverine Club Athletic Awards banquet. He has been a part of the coaching staff for 15 team conference championships during the program’s tenure Great West Conference and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
Before entering the coaching ranks, Smith enjoyed a three-year career as a sprinter from 2003-2006 at Brigham Young University where he was an NCAA qualifier in three events. Among those events, Smith was an NCAA qualifier three times in the 4x100 relay, two-time NCAA qualifier in the 4x400 relay and one-time qualifier in the 200-meter dash.
Â
Prior to joining UVU’s coaching staff, Smith worked as an assistant coach of the track and field team at Timpview High School in Provo, Utah, from 2007-2008.
Â
Smith and Stephanie Williams are the parents of two children, Davi Williams and Ezekiel Smith, and reside in Kaysville, Utah.
Â