In 2024, Provence helped lead the Jax State Cross Country program to new heights, securing three team victories for the men, one for the women, and the highest finish at the CUSA Championship in school history for both teams.
The Jax State men opened up the year with a win at the Foothills Invitational in Oxford before both squads swept the team titles at the UNA Invitational. The men also posted a team victory at the Upstate Invitational, the men and women managed CUSA finishes of third and sixth respectively before also managing the best South Regional finishes in school history.
The Track & Field season, also saw much success for the Gamecocks in 2025. Jax State ended up setting five new program records in the indoor this spring, including the 400m, pole vault and 5000m. Alongside the five new program records, Jax State had 35 performances that landed on the program's top 10 list.
In the outdoor slate, Jax State also showed out at the UAB Spring Invite. Jax State had 20 top five finishes as a team, including three additional top five performances in team relays. Of the top five performances, two program records were set while two individuals took home event titles.
Hailey Tucker and Beti Jimeno both qualified for the NCAA East First Round in Jacksonville, Fla. Following impressive performances at the 2025 CUSA Outdoor Championships.
Jacksonville State has hired Jeremy Provence to lead its cross country and track and field program, athletics director Greg Seitz announced on Jan. 18.
Provence comes to Jax State from North Alabama, where he has served the past five years as the Lions’ head cross country coach, leading both the men’s and women’s programs from the start of the Division I era to contenders in the ASUN Conference that each competed in the NCAA Regionals in his last season. The men’s team earned its first-ever Division I regional ranking in the fall of 2022.
Prior to his stint at UNA, Provence was the cross country and track and field coach at the University of the Ozarks and led his alma mater to its first American Southwest Conference Championship appearance and saw several runners compete in the NCAA Regionals.
“From our first conversations with him, we knew that Jeremy Provence was the right person to lead our cross country and track and field programs here at Jax State,” Seitz said. “He is a tireless worker that has established a winning culture at each of his previous stops. We are excited about the future of our programs as they finish our final year in the ASUN and then move into a new era in Conference USA.”
Provence will take over the Gamecocks’ program immediately and will join graduate assistant coach Malon Lee to coach the women’s indoor team in Nashville on Friday at the Vanderbilt Invitational.
“I couldn’t go without thanking Malon Lee for leading our team and our student-athletes for their resolve during the transition between head coaches,” Seitz added. “Even though the timing of the search added some urgency to the search, but we weren’t going to settle until we found the right person in Coach Provence. Malon did a fantastic job of moving our program forward and preparing our student-athletes for the first two competitions of the indoor season, even breaking some records in the process.”
The Vanderbilt Intercollegiate will be Provence’s first as the Gamecocks head coach and the third meet of the 2022-23 indoor season for Jax State. There are three meets before the ASUN Championships on Feb. 24-25 and then the outdoor season will begin on March 17 at the Auburn Tiger Track Classic.
He is eager to get started right away and begin the process of building the Jax State program into one that is ready to compete as it moves into C-USA.
“Throughout the process, it was apparent that Jacksonville State University and the athletic department have a lot of positive momentum, and I am honored to be part of the Jax State family,” Provence said. “I’m ready to hit the ground running. This will be a true team effort. A lot of hard work is ahead, but great things happen when everyone is pulling the rope in the same direction.
“I want to thank Greg Seitz, Greg Bonds and all that were involved in the hiring process. Their belief in my ability to lead the track & field/cross country program is very humbling and I cannot wait to get started.”
In his five years as head cross country coach at North Alabama, Provence also served as the Lions’ assistant game operations manager. His 2022 men’s squad earned the program’s first regional ranking at the Division I level when the Lions were ranked 14th on two occasions, including the final poll before the NCAA Regionals in November.
The Lions hosted and finished 13th in the NCAA South Regional, led by All-ASUN performer Evan Allen, who shattered the school’s 10k record in the event.
The 2022 women’s team also hosted the NCAA South Regional, culminating a season that saw the Lions earn a win in the Firehawk Invitational and claim two other top-three finishes.
Provence led both programs to wins over his first four seasons and finished in the top-five in the ASUN with both the men’s and women’s teams. His teams won multiple All-ASUN and ASUN weekly awards on the course, while also grabbing several academic honors.
Both the men and women earned multiple NCAA Division I All-Academic Team honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Kara Nix, Phoebe Moon, Emma Knight and Peyton Ewoldt each won ASUN All-Academic honors, while Nix earned Academic All-America honors in 2021.
Evan Allen was the men’s first Division I all-conference runner in 2022, joining Emma Knight as the program’s all-conference runners after she earned All-ASUN honors in 2018.
A native of Winfrey Valley, Ark., Provence is an accomplished runner who received a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from the University of the Ozarks in 2012 and added a master's degree in Health, Leisure, and Exercise Science with an emphasis in Exercise Science from West Florida in 2014.
A collegiate runner from 2008-11 at University of the Ozarks, Provence participated in four NCAA III Regional races during his career and was named to the USTFCCCA All-Region Team in 2011 as well as earning All-American Southwest Conference honors that season.
A three-time member of the American Southwest Conference All-Academic Team, Provence is the only runner in men's program history at University of the Ozarks to earn Capital One Academic All-District honors and is one of only two runners at the school to be a member of the US Track & Field & Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team.
Provence began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant for the men’s and women’s cross country program at the University of West Florida in 2012. He then served as a graduate assistant at UWF in 2013.
He returned to his alma mater in 2014 as head coach of the women's and men's cross country program and the men's and women's indoor and outdoor track program.
Provence led the women's and men's track program to the school's first American Southwest Conference Championship appearance and seven of his runners competed in the NCAA regional cross country championships. He had 20 runners on the American Southwest Conference Cross Country All-Academic Team and his women's cross country program was awarded the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Women's Team Academic Award (2016).
He coached the American Southwest Conference Cross Country Sportsmanship Male Athlete of the Year as well as the winner of the ASC Women's Track Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year (2017).
During the 2017 cross country season, Provence coached the ASC's Men's Cross Country Newcomer of the Year, ASC Men's Cross Country Freshman of the Year, the ASC Men's cross country individual champion, three all-conference selections, three academic all-conference honorees, four ASC Runner of the Week selections and the women's team was honored as a USTFCCCA all-academic team.
In track in 2018, Provence coached two All-ASC honorees, the ASC Women's Track Athlete of the Year, the ASC men's co-high point athlete, five individual event champions and two athlete of the week winners.
Provence continues to run competitively and has numerous wins and top 10 finishes in nine mile, 25k, half marathon and marathon events. In 2019 he won the Little Rock Marathon and then defended his title in 2020. In 2021 he ran the Ouachita Trail 50 mile, setting a course record in 7:01:12, and the War Eagle Trail 50k, setting a course record in 3:44:33. In the 2022 Boston Marathon, Provence shattered his own PR time and finished 158th out of 25,314 participants with a time of 2:31:11. He averaged 5:46 per mile.
Jeremy and his wife Tina have a son, Sylas.
