Cameron Smith reboots Nevada Skiing

University of Nevada Wolf Pack 2022/23

The University of Nevada has a new coach in its second season since being reinstated, and he’s got plans.

Cam Smith and his fiancé, Mikaela Tommy, figured they’d spend a winter in Tahoe last year as a one-time experience. Both coached for Palisades Tahoe, she as an assistant FIS coach and he as a part-time FIS coach while working his “real job” in sales at a sustainability startup. After the ski season, the couple returned to Boulder, Smith’s hometown, where they both raced NCAA for CU and where they planned to start their married life.

That was Plan A.

After arriving in Boulder, however, Smith did a U-Turn to interview for a newly open position at the helm of Nevada Skiing.

A year earlier, the University of Nevada had acquired Sierra Nevada University. University President Brian Sandoval pledged to preserve the SNU ski team as part of the transition. The program’s coach, Mihaela Kosi, became the head coach, and her SNU Eagles—stars of the USCSA—morphed into Nevada’s Wolfpack. They became Nevada’s 17th NCAA team and the newest Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) addition.

When Kosi announced her departure this past April, the search was on for someone who could follow the momentum she’d started and build on it like a snowball rolling downhill. That someone would be Cam Smith.

Smith was named to the position in July. In August, he and Tommy made a quick trip back to Tommy’s hometown in Canada for their wedding, where their former CU coach, Richard Rokos, officiated. They arrived in Reno just before students arrived on campus for the fall term.

BROAD EXPERIENCE, DEEP CONNECTIONS

Smith brings knowledge, experience, and broad connections throughout the industry. He grew up ski racing, attending Burke Mountain Academy, and then became a CU Buff.  He then served as an assistant coach at CU for a year before taking a position with HEAD. As US Competition and Team Manager, he worked with top World Cup athletes like Ted Ligety, Tommy Ford, Alice McKennis Duran and AJ Hurt. He also worked with every significant ski racing program across the country. 

“My biggest job there was basically recruiting athletes,” says Smith about his job with Head. To do that, he built close connections and relationships at every level of junior and FIS racing across the US. He is well-informed on the breadth of talent looking for a place to keep developing. “I already know all of those coaches, and Imight have already worked with a lot of those athletes. I think that will definitely help me with continuing to recruit the best Americans.”

FANNING THE FLAME 

Smith comes into a community primed for success. Zach Fretz and Nick Cohee are both former NCAA skiers and are directors of the Nevada Skiing Boosters. Cohee grew up in Tahoe, becoming a top US junior racer. “I wanted to ski for UNR,” recalls Cohee, who started college in 2008. At the time, the Tahoe area had a lot of really great skiers who were making the national team and also skiing for colleges like Utah, Middlebury and Dartmouth. “None of these guys went to Nevada,” says Cohee, who went on to race for Utah and was a 2 x all-American. “There were just poor efforts for recruiting Americans that were fast.” 

Fretz, a Colorado native, was a team member in 2010 when Nevada cut the ski team. “It was life-changing,” recalls Fretz, whose involvement in the Boosters was motivated by the experience. “We want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” When Nevada announced that their NCAA ski team was rising from the smoldering ashes, Fretz and Cohee brought a can of gas to the party.

They helped rally the local community, raising $100,000 in the inaugural Ski Ball fundraiser and worked on rebuilding dormant relationships throughout the skiing community. That meant engaging donors big and small, resorts, clubs, parents and athletes. They knew the program needed a unique coach—someone who knew elite and college racing inside and out but also had the vision and energy to build a program from the ground up and develop an intelligent recruiting system to entice top domestic and international athletes. “It’s a much bigger challenge, and that is what really interests me,” says Smith.

REBUILDING CONNECTION, RECLAIMING LEGACY

Much of Smith’s allure was his desire to engage the community. Cohee explains that when the ski team was up on the chopping block, there was minimal local connection and, thus, minimal financial support within the community to save it. The devastation went well beyond Fretz and his teammates. Losing Nevada’s high-level college athletes and competitions was a big hit for the development of Tahoe athletes of all ages. “These kids just didn’t have enough opportunities to improve their world ranking and really dare to take chances at a higher level and in a deeper field,” says Cohee.

Smith fully understands how athletes drive community connection. Growing up in Boulder, he raced at Lake Eldora.  “I looked up to the CU athletes. Sure, I knew who Bode Miller was, but I had no idea who was on the US Ski Team. I did know everyone who was on CU.” Smith sees a huge opportunity to fill that void with local youth by creating a strong connection between the team and the local ski community. “I’m definitely excited to bring that back,” says Smith.

DOMESTIC AGENDA AND A RISING TIDE

As the only American on CU’s team for some of his time there, Smith is acutely aware of the importance of creating opportunities for American and local athletes. “I want to support Americans and put the best team on snow that I can,” he says. To that end, while looking for fast, eager athletes from any country, he will aim to keep a few spots available for local athletes. “There’s so many ski clubs in this area that I’m hoping we can pull one or two a year.”

Incoming athletes this year include Tahoe native Ryan Herhusky, Mammoth skier Eric Lynch, and Idaho skier Jessica Blackburn. They join junior Georgie Sullivan, who, like Herhusky, skied for Sugar Bowl Academy. The benefits of a successful college team will stretch beyond Reno and Tahoe. “You’re adding another 12 athletes in the US,” says Smith.  “Whether they’re USA athletes or foreign athletes, you’re adding them into the field at a Nor Am or college race, which makes it more competitive.”

TRAINING OPTIONS

Regarding training venues, the Wolfpack has an embarrassment of riches.The closest is Sky Tavern, a mere 25 minutes from campus on the Mt. Rose Highway. The city-owned, volunteer-run area is enjoying a renaissance, installing its first-ever snowmaking system in time for this season. Another five minutes up the road, Mt. Rose offers big mountain terrain for SL and GS. Within an hour’s easy drive are Palisades Tahoe and Alpine, Sugar Bowl, Northstar and Diamond Peak. All have reached out to Smith, and he plans to spend time at each venue, sampling terrain, surface and training accessibility.

Nevada does not have a home meet this season, though RMISA is aiming for a Nevada home meet on the 2024/25 season schedule, perhaps even utilizing the World Cup prepped surface of the Palisades Tahoe World Cup.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Smith is aware that he is coming into college coaching at a unique time in the sport, when college athletes are making high marks on the World Cup, legitimizing the level in the NCAA. “I feel like we just hit a golden era of showing that collegiate skiing can be a pathway to World Cup success.” He points to the recent success of former NCAA skiers like current World Champion Laurence St-Germain, and the 15 NCAA skiing graduates on the World Cup tour.

Bringing fast, high-level ski racing back to the Tahoe area—in the form of the Nevada Ski Team, spring USST camps and the Palisades Tahoe World Cup—is another ingredient in the recipe for success. “It’s a huge opportunity to raise the tide,” says Cohee. “You see what’s happened with all these talent hotspots over the last 20 years.” He pointed to Park City’s success with Ted Ligety and his peer group when the area hosted World Cups to prepare for the 2002 Olympics and the way early season training and World Cup prep in Colorado has boosted the performance of Rocky athletes. “Now it’s our turn again.”

A WINNING CULTURE

Another priority for Smith is a positive and supportive team culture, something he experienced while skiing and then working for Rokos at CU. “A big piece that helps win championships is really keeping a good team dynamic and having a good team culture with everyone respecting each other andhelping each other out—like a family, or like a wolf pack, if you will.”

In addition to the overwhelming support from the ski racing and Reno Tahoe community, Smith has been blown away by the internal institutional and personal support throughout the university, from Sandoval to AD Stephanie Rempe. Even at the powerhouse schools, skiing is often minimally considered, lacking substantial pride or legacy. Not so in Reno, where the ski team lore goes back to 1936 when student-athlete Wayne Poulsen founded it. “It’s not the black sheep of the athletic department,” says Smith. “I think they’re viewing the ski team as an opportunity for the athletic department to win a national or a conference championship.” With that backing, Smith has a solid pitch to athletes, promising support from the college and the community, along with the facilities, training and budget that rival other top schools in the West.

NEXT UP, NORDIC

Everyone involved in the monumental effort to bring Nevada skiing back clearly knows their goals. “I’m coming here to build a championship team,” says Smith, adding, “so I need a Nordic team.” Fielding a complete ski team, Alpine and Nordic, requires about $1 million annually in sustainable funding. Much of that needs to come from sources outside the school, and the booster community is now laser-focused on that. The goal is to have a Nordic team up and running by the ’24/’25 season. Then, Nevada’s Wolfpack will be able to strike. As Fretz explains, success will ultimately drive support. “Everyone wants to be part of a winning team.”

Want to join the Pack? The Nevada Ski Team is still looking for a full-time assistant coach. Check it out here.