University of Minnesota Athletics
Griak Feature: Martin Smith
8/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
The University of Minnesota will celebrate the 31st annual Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 24 at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn.
Gopher Athletics has announced the second annual Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame class, including eight honorees. As the Griak Invitational approaches, GopherSports.com will highlight each of the honorees including this week's inductee -- legendary coach Martin Smith.
MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) - With a pair of national cross country championships already to his credit, Martin Smith was already on his way to making a name for himself in the coaching circles, but it was not until 1983 that his status as a cross country coach began to escalate to legendary status.
That year he crossed paths with Roy Griak, who had already cemented his place among the greatest distance coaches in history, and the young Smith, like so many others, was drawn to Griak's greatness and dedication to his sport.
Smith, who began his coaching career at George Mason (1979-80) and Virginia (1980-83), had recently been named the cross country coach at the University of Wisconsin following the tragic death of coach Dan McClimon just five months after leading the Badgers to an NCAA championship.
The 41-year-old McClimon died on April 14, 1983 from injuries sustained when the small plane he was a passenger in crashed while returning from a recruiting trip. He had coached the Badgers since 1971 and established Wisconsin as one of the nation's premier programs. The Badgers won five Big Ten titles under McClimon and advanced to the national championship 11 times in his 12 years at the school, and McClimon was the national coach of the year three times (1979, 81-82). His daughter, Molly, who was 11 at the time of her father's death, went on to win a Big Ten individual title in 1993, helping Michigan to its second-straight conference championship.
With Smith settling into his new role at Wisconsin, he and Griak went head-to-head in cross country duals. Their teams also faced off at the Burger King Classic, a meet that at the time attracted 10 teams in Minneapolis but has since grown into the Roy Griak Invitational.
"It became an integral part of our schedule," Smith said of the early Griak meets. "(Griak) took a great step in creating the meet. He was able to see that our sport was in danger and did not want to see it continue to decline. We watched as the Griak Invitational grew from basically a traditional dual meet to what it has become today."
Smith, one of eight individuals to be enshrined into the Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame this year, can be credited with much of the success the meet has enjoyed as it celebrates its 31st year in 2016.
Smith's Wisconsin team, the defending national champions, won the first Griak Invitational by scoring 35 points and outdistancing Nebraska and Penn State, which tied for second place at 89 points. The Badgers repeated each of the following two years to become the first school to win three Griak titles. Smith's 1988 Badgers scored a then-meet record 22 points. That mark was eclipsed the following season when Iowa State won the title with a perfect score of 15 as the Badgers did not enter the meet that year.
Wisconsin did not return to the Griak until 1991, securing a third-place finish in the team standings with 77 points. South Florida won the 1991 team title with 57 points, and Adams State was runner-up with 72 points on the day. The Badgers took second to Adams State in 1992.
Smith brought four more Wisconsin teams to the Griak and added more team titles to his impressive resume as the Badgers won four-straight titles from 1994-97. Smith then stepped down from the Badgers coaching staff in 1998 to become the head coach of Oregon's men's track & field/cross country program; he was elevated to the position of director of men's and women's track & field/cross country in 2003 following the retirement of Tom Heinonen. In 2005, Smith became the head coach at Oklahoma where he remained until 2013 when he became the coach at Iowa State, filling a vacancy left when Corey Ihmels took over at Boise State.
The Griak has continued to be a part of Smith's teams schedules. While Smith was at Oregon, the Ducks appeared at the Griak on four occasions. They placed fourth in 1999 as UO's Steve Fein captured the individual title, and Oregon finished seventh and 11th in its next two trips to Minneapolis. In 2002, the Ducks took home the top team trophy after scoring 96 points to defeat Eastern Michigan (105).
As part of Smith's resurrection project of the running program at Oklahoma, his Sooners made three appearances at the storied meet and the results helped solidify his status as a coach. OU placed 23rd at the 2006 Griak and followed that up with a ninth-place showing the following year, setting the stage for a runner-up finish in 2009. After bypassing the Griak in 2008, Oklahoma returned in 2009 and put four Sooners among the top-20 to push Iowa State to the limit before settling for second place in the team standings.
In its fourth season with Smith at the helm, Iowa State is set to once again appear at this year's Griak, marking the second trip up Interstate 35 for the Cyclones under Smith's direction. ISU placed fifth at the 2014 meet.
Smith, with seven Griak team titles to his credit, has also coached two individual champions at the popular meet, both of which came while Smith was coaching at neighboring Wisconsin. Chris Borsa claimed the 1988 title when he turned in a time of 24:41 and Jason Casiano (24:08) won the 1994 Griak individual crown.
"I've enjoyed many, many Roy Griak meets," Smith said. "It is a great course, and it is just neat time and a great meet to be involved in. There is a very strong commitment to a lot of people behind the meet."
Smith, a native of Alexandria, Va., graduated from Bridgewater College in 1974 with a degree in history and political science. He began his coaching career at Oakton (Va.) High School and led his team to a state championship. His first two national championships as a collegiate coach came while at Virginia. He led the Cavaliers to the first-ever NCAA women's championship in 1982 after winning the AIAW national title the previous year. Lesley Welch paced Virginia to the national championship by winning the 1982 NCAA meet after winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship earlier that season.
In addition to the pair of national titles by his Wisconsin men, Smith also guided the Badgers to 12 Big Ten championships, including eight-straight crowns (1985-92). His women's program at Iowa State has won each of the last three Big 12 championships and his Virginia women won ACC titles in each of Smith's two seasons in Charlottesville. The recipient of numerous coach of the year awards on the conference level, Smith was tabbed as the cross country coach of the year six times during his career at Wisconsin.
"The thing about (Smith) is he demands the best from his athletes," said Gary Wilson, the executive director and co-founder of the Griak Invitational. "He is as focused as any coach I've ever been around. He is a bulldog. He has one focus and one way of doing things."
By Ray Maloney
Roy Griak Invitational Historian
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