OXFORD, Miss. — The University of Mississippi announced the hiring of Brandon Hazouri as the new associate head cross country and assistant track and field coach on Tuesday, according to an official release.
Head coach Connie Price-Smith praised Hazouri’s track record, noting his success in coaching All-Americans and leading nationally ranked recruiting classes. “We are excited to welcome Brandon to our staff,” Price-Smith said. “He has had great success at each stop during his career in recruiting and coaching top-tier student-athletes, and we look forward to the impact he will have on our cross country and distance programs.”
Hazouri, who coached at Wake Forest for five seasons, helped develop 16 all-conference honorees and coached two-time All-American Rynard Swanepoel, who set the school record in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:45.28. He also contributed to record-setting performances in indoor and outdoor 800-meter races and guided the Demon Deacons to three top-10 NCAA Championship finishes, including a fifth-place showing in 2022. His recruiting efforts helped Wake Forest secure the No. 3 ranked class nationally in 2024, as well as top-five classes in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to Wake Forest, Hazouri served for two seasons as head cross country and assistant track and field coach at Western Illinois University, where he helped the team win conference titles and coached its only first-team All-American. His coaching career began at his alma mater, Samford University, where he was an assistant coach. As a student-athlete, Hazouri was an All-American in the 800-meter, a seven-time conference champion, and held school records in multiple events. The Birmingham, Alabama native earned his degree in health sciences from Samford in 2017.
