During a mid-morning team meeting, ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs head womenβs track and field coach informed her team that she had accepted the Director of Track and Field position at the University of Southern California. Later in the afternoon, the Knights were honored with a luncheon and reception to celebrate their many accomplishments during the past year, which included the schoolβs first-ever NCAA Champion and top-five finishes at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
βI set out on a mission to make this program a track and field superpower,β Smith Gilbert said. βWe were in the top five, both indoor and outdoor, this year. So I think the program is definitely headed in the right direction. I want to thank Todd Stansbury, Jessica Reo, Keith Tribble and so many others for the opportunity, the help and all the assistance they gave us to get us to this point. President Hitt is very supportive of the team and everybody at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ embraced us. We made major strides in this program.
βOrlando is a great place. ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ is a great place,β Smith Gilbert continued. βItβs going to be very sad. Iβm excited about embarking on a new adventure. But it is going to be very hard for me to leave. We grew as a family, so theyβre more than just my athletes. Theyβre like my little sisters and daughters. I taught them everything I could.β
In her new role at USC, Smith Gilbert will be responsible for all aspects of the Trojansβ menβs and womenβs track and field programs.
During her ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ tenure, the Knights won six Conference USA outdoor and indoor crowns. Her athletes were named All-America more than 100 times and set more than 100 school records. In the classroom, her teamβs GPA exceeded 3.0 nearly every term during her tenure.
βCaryl Smith Gilbert and our student-athletes are responsible for our womenβs track and field program being recognized among the best in the nation,β said ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Vice President and Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury. βShe is an amazing coach and an amazing person. We certainly understand that when you have a coach who has accomplished the sort of things Coach Caryl has, that she will be presented with other opportunities. We thank her for everything she has done at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ and wish her and her family nothing but the best in the future.β
In 2013, ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs fifth-place showing at the NCAA outdoor meet was the best finish by a non-BCS school since 2000 and its 35 points more than doubled the previous program best. Smith Gilbert was named the USTFCCA South Region Coach of the Year for a fifth time in 2013 as she guided ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ to its first-ever Top-10 outdoor ranking in the USTFCCCA poll. She was the only coach to have three 100-meter runners ranked among the Top 10-seeded qualifiers at the NCAA meet. Twelve school records were broken during the 2013 outdoor season while the team won its fourth-straight C-USA title, a feat unmatched by any other women’s track and field program in C-USA history. Octavious Freeman was the C-USA Track Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.
ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ also finished fifth at the 2013 NCAA indoor meet, as Aurieyall Scott won the 60-meter dash to become the schoolβs first NCAA champion in any sport. Scott was also the C-USA Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs eighth-place finish at the 2012 NCAA indoor meet was the programβs best at the time. ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ won the C-USA outdoor title and capped the season by sending four Knights to compete at the USA Olympic Trials. In 2011, ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ swept the indoor and outdoor C-USA titles as Jackie Coward was named C-USA Track Athlete of the Year and ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½’s first two-time All-America first-teamer. Smith Gilbert was C-USA’s outdoor and indoor Coach of the Year. She led the 2010 Knights to the C-USA Outdoor championship. Coward became ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs first NCAA Outdoor All-American, finishing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles.
In Smith Gilbertβs first two seasons at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½, 2008 and 2009, her athletes broke 30 of the school’s indoor and outdoor school records. She also served as the jumps and multi-events coach of Team USA at the 2009 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Berlin.
Smith Gilbert came to ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ after five seasons (2003-07) as an assistant coach at Tennessee, where she was responsible for coaching sprints, hurdles and jumps. Smith Gilbert was an assistant coach at Alabama for three years (2000-02) and held similar responsibilities as an assistant at Penn State for two seasons (1998-99). Prior to becoming a collegiate coach, Smith Gilbert was the head coach for four seasons (1994-97) at her prep alma mater, George Washington High in Denver.