On Track for Great Success: Georgia Women’s and Men’s Coach Ranks High

The sport of track and field, which has long been one of the most prestigious sports in the world in large part because of the Olympics, has risen in popularity in recent years. Before NIL (name, image and likeness) rights for college athletes officially got underway in 2021, track athletes were among the top earners in sports, particularly in international competitions.

A century ago, however, a college athlete playing professional-level sports was frowned on to the extent that months after the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, the International Olympic Committee took away Jim Thorpe’s gold medals in both the decathlon and pentathlon, because the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) discovered that a few years earlier, he’d earned $25 a week playing minor league baseball.

And in November 1925, when all-state track and field star and football standout Harold “Red” Grange signed an unheard-of contract of $100,000 to play for the Chicago Bears immediately following his last college football game, it caused a rift between him and his coach at Illinois, Bob Zuppke. Grange asked rhetorically if his coach got paid to coach, why could he not be paid to play?

Fast-forward to 2021 when NIL rules began allowing college athletes to be paid. That’s when men’s and women’s track and field coach Caryl Smith Gilbert arrived in Athens with the commitment from the University of Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks to build a showcase track facility that would enhance her ability to recruit world-class athletes.

That commitment persuaded her to leave the University of Southern California for the red clay hills of Georgia, known for world-class track and field champion Forrest “Spec” Towns, who won Olympic gold with a 14.2 high hurdles dash at Berlin in 1936. A few days later, he ran 13.7 in an exhibition race at Oslo, Norway, a record that stood for 14 years.

In April, the Georgia men’s and women’s teams were ranked No. 1 in the country – the first time in program history that both squads have held the top spot simultaneously.

As the first female head coach of a men’s sports program in the history of Georgia Athletics, Smith Gilbert is looking to replicate such success, and her prospects are overwhelmingly favorable. She has a brilliant staff with worldwide connections and is working to bring the best talent in track and field to UGA – not only for collegiate competition but for training and exhibition meets involving the top performers across the globe.

She has the facility to get everybody’s attention. The UGA Track and Field Complex has the largest footprint of any collegiate track layout in the country, comprising 37.24 acres. Compare this size to that of other leading track schools, such as Oregon (18.17 acres), UCLA (11.71 acres), and Smith Gilbert’s former employer USC, which has a 4.92-acre track complex.

One of the reasons for UGA’s good fortune with its super track layout is related to it being a land-grant college. This stemmed from the Morrill Act of 1862, which provided land to fund higher education “for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts.” The footprint for many universities in small towns had excess land for development. In recent years, the University of Georgia has seen its campus expand, and many spring sports teams have new facilities on South Campus, with the UGA track complex the crown jewel.

Now in her fifth season with UGA, Smith Gilbert was recently named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Women’s Coach of the Year as well as the 2026 South Region Women’s Coach of the Year. She has already won two national championships: the 2025 women’s outdoor and the 2026 women’s indoor titles. In April, the Georgia men’s and women’s teams were ranked No. 1 in the country – the first time in program history that both squads have held the top spot simultaneously. And the new track complex could certainly enhance further glory for UGA.

Smith Gilbert is obviously a talented coach. What she has accomplished in five short years will likely increase interest and participation in high school track and field competition in Georgia and possibly even other states. Currently, Texas, California and Florida have the greatest number of high school track athletes, with Georgia ranked fourth. But the UGA track program attracts students across all borders. It is not unthinkable that there is another superstar like Spec Towns waiting in the wings to bring Olympic honor to UGA and the Peach State.