Few individuals threw themselves into coaching like Connie Price-Smith.
It probably came easy to Price-Smith, who had an illustrious 15-year career as a four-time Olympian and 25-time U.S. champion in the discus and shot put combined.
Now 25 years after her coaching career began as a volunteer assistant at Ohio State, Price-Smith takes her place amongst the legends of the profession in the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame. Her coaching accolades speak for themselves: more than 20 NCAA event champions, more than 240 All-America honors and more than 275 event titles at conference championships, including more than 75 in the SEC alone.
Prior to her arrival at Ole Miss in 2015 after 14 years at her alma mater Southern Illinois, the Rebels had never touched an NCAA team podium or won an SEC team title. That all changed in 2016, 2018 and 2019: Ole Miss’s men finished fourth at the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships – the best finish by an SEC program since 2009; then the Rebels won back-to-back conference titles on the grass circuit in the latter years, becoming just the second non-Arkansas program to accomplish that feat since 1991.
Price-Smith’s athletes, specifically her throwers, have left their mark on the collegiate record book in a big way, too. Brittany Riley still holds the collegiate record in the weight throw at 25.56m (83-10¾) from her winning mark at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships, while 2016 The Bowerman finalist Raven Saunders once owned both the indoor and outdoor CRs in the shot put. Speaking of Riley, she is actually one of five athletes coached by Price-Smith in the all-time top-10 of the weight throw, including each of the top-4: Shey Taiwo (No. 2), Jalani Davis (No. 3) and Jasmine Mitchell (No. 4) sit behind Riley on the prestigious chart with Janaeh Stewart at No. 10.
The native of St. Charles, Missouri, has been a mainstay on the international stage as a coach, just as she did as an athlete. Most notably, Price-Smith was the head women’s coach for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the 2011 World Championships. Price-Smith also was an assistant coach for the 2008 and 2012 Olympic track & field teams.
She has also dutifully served the USTFCCCA over the years. Most recently, Price-Smith was the NCAA Division I Track & Field President from 2017 to 2019.
