From Mike Smith’s Assistant to Running the Dynasty: NAU’s Jarred Cornfield on the System Behind 6 Titles, Keeping It Alive in a New NCAA, and Coaching Colin Sahlman to 3x NCAA Titles

You don't replace Mike Smith. You carry forward what he built, and Jarred Cornfield is proving that's exactly how dynasties survive.

Entering year two as NAU's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field, Cornfield returns to the podcast as another Flagstaff fall arrives. He opens up about the transition from nine years as Smith's assistant—resisting the urge to prove himself, leaning on his mentor (still in town, still a phone call away), and practicing the same pressure-management he preaches to his athletes.

The conversation digs into the anatomy of the dynasty: six national titles in seven years, why every single one was the hardest thing ever, and whether today's NCAA will ever allow another NAU dynasty.

Cornfield pulls back the curtain on the tactical side, too: watching a decade of DMR film with his men before their indoor title run; scouting rival coaches' tendencies; and building course-specific training, this time for Terre Haute, where this fall's championships return for the first time since the frigid 2019 race.

Other threads in this conversation: what he actually does differently from Smith; sub-threshold staples in Buffalo Park; the student-athlete question at a school nicknamed running university; exhibiting character when nobody's watching; and his candid, nuanced take on the NCAA scrapping altitude conversions, which is a change that hits Flagstaff harder than anywhere. Plus, a celebration of Colin Sahlman's historic DMR–indoor 3K–outdoor 800 triple, and the theme of 2026's first team meeting: encouragement.

Bring on Terre Haute. Bring on the rain.

Tap into the Coach Cornfield Special. 

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