Brian Smith (born August 9, 1980) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach who is currently the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

, and running backs coach at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

. He was previously the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, where he also played

Playing career

Smith played center at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

from 1998 to 2001. He was also the team's starting

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

in that same time duration. He was the college roommate of

Nick Rolovich Nicholas Robert Rolovich ( ; born February 16, 1979) is an American football coach and former player who is currently a senior offensive assistant at California. Rolovich majored in economics at the University of Hawaii and earned a master's de ...

, and the two would practice long snaps in their apartment hallway. Following his playing career at Hawaii, Smith signed professional contracts with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

and

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Coaching career

After spending one year coaching the offensive line at Royal High School in

Simi Valley, California Simi Valley (; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in Simi Valley (valley), the valley of the same name in southeastern Ventura County, California, United States. It is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater ...

, Smith joined the coaching staff at

as a student assistant while he completed his bachelor's degree. He also spent time as an assistant at Cal Lutheran, Oregon State, and

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

Second stint at Hawaii

Smith was hired to be the offensive line coach at Hawaii in 2008 on

Greg McMackin Gregory James McMackin (April 24, 1945 – February 14, 2023) was an American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at Oregon Institute of Technology from 1986 to 1989 and at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 2008 ...

's inaugural staff, before shifting to coaching running backs in 2009. Smith was not retained by newly hired head coach

Norm Chow Norman Yew Heen Chow (born May 3, 1946) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football, University of Hawaii at Manoa, a position he held from December 2011 until November ...

for the 2012 season.

Return to Cal Lutheran and Occidental

Smith spent 2012 as the offensive line coach at Cal Lutheran, and was hired to be the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is ...

in 2013.

Third stint at Hawaii

Smith joined the Hawaii coaching staff for the third time in his coaching career, this time under his college roommate Rolovich and as the associate head coach and offensive coordinator. He was also the team's running backs coach the entire duration of his stint, while also working as the tight ends coach in 2017 before the position was vacated in 2018 due to the change in offensive scheme from

spread option In finance, a spread option is a type of option where the payoff is based on the difference in price between two underlying assets. For example, the two assets could be crude oil and heating oil; trading such an option might be of interest to oil ...

to run and shoot.

Washington State

After Rolovich departed Hawaii to be the next head coach at

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, Smith was considered by the public eye to be a possible successor to Rolovich at Hawaii before

Todd Graham Michael Todd Graham (born December 5, 1964) is an American college football coach and former player who serves as an offensive analyst for TCU. He was most recently the head football coach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Playing car ...

was named the Rainbow Warriors head coach a couple of weeks later. Smith was then officially added to Rolovich's coaching staff as the offensive coordinator & running backs coach. He added the title of associate head coach in 2021.

Ohio

Smith was named the passing game coordinator and running backs coach at

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in 2022. In his first season with the Bobcats Smith coached running back Sieh Bangura to Freshman All-American honors and MAC Freshman of the Year honors while improving the Ohio passing attack to 23rd nationally, up from 108th in previous season. Prior to the 2023 season Smith was promoted to associate head coach and helped the Bobcats to a second straight ten win season. Prior to the 2024 season he has taken over play calling duties as Ohio's new offensive coordinator. In 2024 the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

had a third straight ten win season and his unit led the MAC in total offense. Ohio defeated

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

in the

MAC Championship game The MAC Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). History The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into div ...

to give the Bobcats their first conference championship since 1968. He was named the interim head coach for the

2024 Cure Bowl The 2024 Cure Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 20, 2024, at Camping World Stadium located in Orlando, Florida. The tenth annual Cure Bowl, the game featured Ohio and Jacksonville State. The game began at approximately 12 ...

after

Tim Albin Tim Albin (born September 13, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head football coach at Charlotte. He previously served as the head football coach at Ohio University from 2021 to 2024, where he led them to a ...

resigned to take the head coach position at Charlotte. Ohio named him the permanent head coach a week later. Ohio won the bowl 30–27 and gave Brian Smith his first ever win, Ohio its first ever 11 win season, and extended Ohio's bowl winning streak to six games.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Ohio profile

Washington State profile

Hawaii coach profile

Hawaii player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Brian 1980 births Living people American football centers American football long snappers Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Baltimore Ravens players Cal Lutheran Kingsmen football coaches Green Bay Packers players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Occidental Tigers football coaches Ohio Bobcats football coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches Portland State Vikings football coaches Washington State Cougars football coaches High school football coaches in California Players of American football from Thousand Oaks, California Coaches of American football from California