Description

Please join us to hear from Dr. Cade Smith, UAH Director of Athletics, and David Cain, Head Coach of UAH Cross Country and Track & Field, as they share plans for the new UAH Track and Field Complex. The storied and elite UAH Track and Field program has garnered national recognition throughout its 25 year history including a recent Gulf South Conference Indoor Championship for our men, and strong national finishes and multiple All-Americans at the NCAA Championships. A new track complex will put Huntsville in strong contention to host regional and national track competitions and championship meets.

Community Conversations are open to all current class members, alumni members and community guests. Lunch will be provided!

More about our Speakers:

Dr. Cade Smith became the fifth Director of Athletics at The University of Alabama in Huntsville when the interim tag he had held for 10 months was lifted on April 7, 2020.

During Smith's tenure at the helm of the department, UAH has won 18 Conference championships and multiple teams have qualified for NCAA postseason play.

Prior to being named the AD, Smith served seven seasons with the UAH volleyball program including as the head coach from 2016 to 2020.

Before joining the UAH volleyball staff, Smith spent seven years in K-12 education serving as a teach, coach, and eventually a high school principal.

Smith graduated from Harding University in 2005 with a bachelor's in physical science and chemistry, and he earned his master's in 2006 and a doctorate in education in 2015 from Harding as well. Smith also owns a master's in human resource management from UAH which he earned in 2018.

David Cain is now in his 27th season as head coach of the UAH men's and women's cross country and track and field programs, assuming his role back in 1998. During Cain's tenure in Huntsville, he has established UAH as one of the premier cross country and track & field programs in Division II.

In Cain's 26 highly productive and successful seasons, he has earned GSC Coach of the Year honors nine times and has led the Chargers to a combined total of 15 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship appearances with nine by the men's team and six by the women's squad. He has guided the Charger women to five GSC Championships, while the men's team has won the conference title on seven occasions. 

Cain, having built the track & field program from the ground up, led the men's and women's track and field programs to their back-to-back Peach Belt Conference titles in 2013 and 2014 prior to competing in the GSC in spring 2017. Since UAH's start of competition in the GSC, Cain has guided the men's squad to four conference championships in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022. The men’s team also won their first indoor title in 2025.

A 2023 Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, Cain is a graduate of Mississippi State where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fitness