Smith
Smith named head men’s lacrosse coach; Englund named head men’s golf coach
LAURINBURG — St. Andrews athletic director Elizabeth Burris has announced the hiring of Kristian Smith as the new men’s lacrosse head coach. Smith officially assumed his responsibilities on Wednesday.
“His background (made him attractive as a coach),” Burris said on Smith. “He wants to be here. I think he’s energetic. I think he addressed the guys right away when he came on campus. He always was responsive, prepared, and ready to go.”
Before joining St. Andrews, Smith was the Keene High School head men’s lacrosse coach in Keene, New Hampshire, for two years, where he managed a successful merger of two rival high school teams. He did so by focusing on film sessions, developing scouting reports, and implementing concept-specific practice plans. He also launched an indoor lacrosse league to support player development in the offseason.
Additionally, he was the team’s assistant coach for the 2020 season. During his tenure, Smith focused on developing the team’s game-day defensive strategy.
He also served as a volunteer head coach at his alma mater, Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, from 2016-18, where he developed warm-up routines for goalies and assisted with practice execution.
“I’m just going to take every day, day by day,” Smith said. “I coached six years of my life before this. … I’ve picked up new things and just take it one at a time, go through it, and just dive straight in. Hopefully, it’ll bring in kids who want to play, whether they are already students or incoming students.”
Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Huntingdon with a concentration in history.
The St. Andrews men’s lacrosse team kicks off their season on Feb. 4 at home against Keiser.
St. Andrews hires Englund as head men’s golf coach
St. Andrews has hired Greg Englund as its new head men’s golf coach. Englund officially assumed his responsibilities on Wednesday.
“I think (Englund) is going to be a really good fit for us,” St. Andrews athletic director Elizabeth Burris said. “He’s excited about coaching, he’s excited about teaching the guys, he’s very excited about doing the tournaments, he likes to be on the golf course, so I think he is going to be really good for the guys. He wants to do this, he wants to be here, and he wants to coach young men.”
Englund comes to St. Andrews from Portland, Oregon, where he led a successful campaign as the head men’s golf coach for Sunset High School from 2019-23, with his team never placing lower than sixth in the Oregon School Activities Association state tournament. He coached and graduated many players who went on to compete successfully at the collegiate DI and DII levels.
His accomplishments include leading his team to a third-place finish in the OSAA state tournament in 2022 and 2023 and being voted the 2022 Metro Co-Coach of the Year by his coaching peers.
Before his tenure at Sunset, he was the assistant coach at Southridge High School, where he was heavily involved with player development.
As an amateur player in Portland, Ore., he won The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club Championship in 2014 and again in 2018.
“It’s an exciting new challenge,” Englund said. “It’s a great area of the country that I have only been to rarely, so I’m excited about that. I’m excited for the challenge with the kids, the league, and (I think) it’s going to be great.”
Englund graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a minor in Business Administration.