ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Third-year Augustana men's track & field Head Coach Jake Shaver has filled a vacancy on his staff and it's a name familiar to Viking fans. Isaac Smith, who enjoyed a stellar career as a sprinter for Coach Paul Olsen from 2014-17, has been hired as Shaver's top assistant. Smith takes over for Shawn Williams, who recently accepted the women's head coaching position at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska.
 
Smith isn't new to the Augustana staff, having served as Shaver's sprints coach for the last two years. One of his charges, Michael Johnson, owned the fastest Division III 60-meter time in the nation in 2020.
 
As a sophomore in 2015, Smith led off the Vikings' indoor national champion 4x400 relay performance in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As a freshman, his 1600 relay outfit had finished second in the nation both indoors and outdoors. He went on to record 10 All-America performances in his career, including three individually in the 400 meters. In addition, he was a nine-time CCIW champion—including two titles in the indoor 200 and another at 400 meters—and was named the league's indoor Track Athlete of the Meet as both a junior and senior.
 
Also a standout in the classroom, Smith was a two-time Academic All-American. He graduated in 2017 with an American Chemical Society-certified degree in chemistry and has worked as an analytical chemist for Quad Cities Metallurgical Lab in Davenport, Iowa for the past four years.