Oklahoma State University Athletics
Smith Instills Winning Attitude At OSU
November 06, 2007 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
by Kasey Blevins
Oklahoma State men's cross country coach Dave Smith tries to instill the same attitude he had as a cross country runner in college into his student athletes today.
“I try to stress this attitude that you don't settle for mediocrity,” Smith said. “If you're going to do something, whether it's academic or athletics, do it the best you can or don't do it.”
While in college at Michigan State, Smith's attitude helped him excel in athletics as well as academics. He began his collegiate career as an engineering major. After learning he didn't enjoy doing things like the labs, he decided to switch majors to fisheries and wildlife.
A strange major for a college athlete and current coach? Smith says no.
“It's not as strange as you might think,” Smith said. “I love the outdoors. Growing up in Washington, I was outside my whole life doing things like backpacking, camping and hiking. Running cross country and doing those kind things are all kind of related. It's all about being outdoors and being health conscious and fit.”
By the end of his career at Michigan State, Smith was an 11-time academic all-Big Ten selection and four-time academic All-America selection. He was also honored for his athleticism with four all-Big Ten honors in cross country and track as well as being the Big Ten conference champion in the 10,000 meter.
After he graduated from Michigan State, Smith wasn't quite ready to be done with school. He was interested in the lab-life sciences after winning a Howard Hughes fellowship between his fourth and fifth years at Michigan State. Smith went to Santa Cruz, N.M., and did a research project in molecular biology and said he really got into it.
Upon graduation, he applied to a fully-funded doctorate program closer to home at the University of Washington. He was accepted and in 2000 received his PhD in pharmacology and neurobiology. Upon receiving his doctorate, Smith went right back to cross country and began coaching.
“I got my doctorate just to expand my horizons and learn some more,” Smith said. “But I love my sport and I love the outdoors so I decided to coach for a year. That year turned into 10.”
Smith's “do everything your best” attitude has obviously been rubbing off on his athletes. Academically, just in the last six months, five Oklahoma State athletes were named to the USTFCCCA men's all-academic track and field team and seven runners were selected first-team academic all-Big 12.
After coming in second at the Big 12 Championships this year, OSU had five runners named to the all-Big 12 team and David Chirchir was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, the second straight year a Cowboy was selected as the recipient of that honor.
“I thought we ran extremely well at the Big 12 and our guys had exceptional races.” Smith said.
He added that he feels Oklahoma State is a strong candidate to win this week's NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Terre Haute, Ind.
“We want to try and strategize and make our race times so that we spend as little energy as possible and still win the race,” he said. “We want to run conservatively for the first half and then make a bold move at about 6k to 8k and that usually breaks the race open and we can kind of relax the last 2k.”
With only two events left in the 2007 cross country season, the Cowboys have thus far lived up to Smith's expectations of their attitude and performance athletically and academically.
“The two main things we're doing here are school and running” Smith said. “We really stress focusing on those things and taking them seriously. We're setting sort of a culture and attitude for the team and for each individual that you don't accept anything less than your best in anything that you do.”
