Elisabeth Gaillet enters her first season as an Assistant Coach for the VMI Track and Field and Cross Country programs following her hire in July of 2026.
Gaillet comes to the Institute by way of Meridian Community College (Meridian, MS) where she served as the Assistant Cross Country & Track Coach responsible for all facets of coaching the distance team, including but not limited to daily run programming, strength, recovery, meet entry and coordination.
At Meridian, she successfully recruited 11 athletes to the distance team in her first year building the team from 10 athletes across the men’s and women’s teams to 20, and coached the team to first time national qualifications in cross country, the 4x800m relay indoor & outdoor, and the outdoor 800m & 1500m.
"Elisabeth came highly recommended by her peers,” Bennett said. “She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that we believe will bring our distance group new levels; this includes her time competing for Ole Miss. Her history of recruiting top talent made her a great choice. It’s an honor to welcome Elisabeth to the VMI family."
Since 2021, Gaillet served as the Head Boys and Girls Cross Country and Track Coach at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was responsible for all facets of coaching 60 cross country athletes and 120 track athletes at the middle school and high school levels along with the oversight of four assistant coaches.
She coached the team to multiple state championship titles and runner-up finishes and organized and executed meets for up to 32 high school teams. Gaillet received the USTFCCCA Mississippi Coach of the Year for Boys Cross Country in 2024 and named the MAC (Mississippi Association of Coaches) Coach of the Year for Girls Cross Country in 2023.
During the spring of 2021, she served as a volunteer assistant cross country and track and field coach at the University of Oklahoma where she assisted with recruiting efforts and learning the ropes at a high level Division I institution.
Gaillet served as a cross country and track and field assistant coach at Millsaps College from 2019 through December of 2020 working closely with the head coach on programming, meet preparation and planning.
Prior to Millsaps, Gaillet worked in Boston, Massachusetts at Heartbreak Hill Running Company, a company that specializes in training and equipping the everyday runner to be the best version of themselves.
Previous to working, Gaillet attended the University of Mississippi where she was a part of the cross country and track and field teams. She specialized in the 5k and 10k and earned her spot in the school record book for both.
Gaillet graduated from Ole Miss in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing.
