ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- An Elizabethtown athletics' legend, head men's and women's track & field coach Joel Hoffsmith is set to depart the College after two-plus decades of service to the programs and the College. Hoffsmith has been on staff since 2000.

Hoffsmith spent his first eight seasons at Elizabethtown as an assistant before being elevated to the women's track & field head coach in 2008-09. A few years later, he also became the head of the men's team.

"Being a track & field coach, numbers are my thing," said Hoffsmith. However, his focus after 20-plus seasons at Etown isn't solely on the championships, conference title winners or all-americans. "Although those are all great, its more the coach-athlete relationships over the years that truly count for me."

The Blue Jays won 10 Middle Atlantic Conference championships on the men's side and three on the women's side prior to the institution's shift over to the Landmark, officially, in 2014-15. His women's teams won back-to-back outdoor MAC titles in 2013 and 2014, a memorable departure from the MAC.

"We are so grateful for the outstanding commitment Joel Hoffsmith has made to our track & field student-athletes, the athletic department, and the entire Elizabethtown College community," said Director of Athletics Chris Morgan. "Coach Hoffsmith is a legend in the track and field community and we've been fortunate to him have as a Blue Jay for the past 23 years." 

2013 was also a year to remember for Hoffsmith and his women's team, specifically. The Blue Jays broke seven school records that outdoor season on their way to winning the program's first outdoor conference championship at Lebanon Valley. Hoffy, as he was known by his athletes, was named the 2013 Mideast Region Women's Coach of the Year.

Hoffsmith's team recreated that feeling a few winters later when they upset powerhouse Moravian at the 2017 Landmark Indoor Championships for the women's team title, earning a program-best 17 medals at the meet. Hoffsmith and staff were named the Coaching Staff of the Year, the first of two times in the Landmark, and Kelsey Brady was the Indoor Female Track Athlete of the Year.

The men's teams he was a part of during the 2000s dominated the conference from 2003 to 2009, winning 10 of 14 championship crowns in track & field, including four consecutive (indoor 2007 to outdoor 2008). Elizabethtown won the triple crown in 2006-07, completing the trifecta with the team title on their home track.

Hoffsmith's athletes didn't only excel come conference championship weekend. In his tenure with the Blue Jays, he's had 28 All-Americans on the men's side (24 individuals, 1 relay) and nine on the women's side. Kevin Clark was a five-time All-America finisher for Etown while Melissa St. Clair was a four-time All-American for the Jays, both of whom are also Ira R. Herr Athletic Hall of Fame members. Hoffsmith has coached eight track & field hall of famers in total.

Hoffsmith and his wife, Sue, will be moving to North Carolina this summer.