Craig Francis Smith (born December 14, 1972) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach who was most recently the head coach for the Utah Utes men's team of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

until 2025. He served as an assistant for

Tim Miles Timothy Sean Miles (born August 20, 1966) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the San Jose State Spartans men's basketball team. Miles previously served as the head coach of North Dakota State University, Colo ...

at four schools – Mayville State,

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. It was founded in 1870 as Colorado Agr ...

, and

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. Smith was also the head coach at Mayville State from 2004 to 2007, at

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

from 2014 to 2018, and at

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal land-grant institution, Utah State serv ...

from 2018 to 2021.

Early life and education

Born in Stephen, Minnesota, Smith graduated from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in secondary education and

Northern State University Northern State University (NSU) is a public university in Aberdeen, South Dakota, United States. NSU is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and offers 45 bachelor's degrees, 53 minors, six associate degrees, 16 pre-professional prog ...

in South Dakota with a master's degree in education in 1999.

Coaching career

Beginnings as assistant coach (1996–2004)

Smith began his coaching career in 1996 as an assistant coach for one season at

Mayville State University Mayville State University (MSU or MaSU) is a public university in Mayville, North Dakota, United States. It is part of the North Dakota University System. History Founded as a normal school by provision of the North Dakota Constitution in 1 ...

, an NAIA school in North Dakota. This was the first of several coaching roles under

. Originally published in the ''

Grand Forks Herald The ''Grand Forks Herald'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, established in 1879, published in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It is the primary daily paper for northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. Its average daily circula ...

'' on April 29, 2012 as
From Mayville to the Big Ten
" In 1997, Smith enrolled in graduate school at Northern State, an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

school in South Dakota, and became a graduate assistant with its men's basketball team. Returning to North Dakota, Smith was an assistant coach at Minot State from 1998 to 2001. In 2001, Smith reunited with Miles at then-NCAA Division II

, where he was an assistant coach and director of operations for three seasons.

Mayville State (2004–2007)

After three seasons at North Dakota State, Smith returned to Mayville State, this time as head coach in 2004. Inheriting a team that had one win in the previous season, Smith led the Comets to 17 wins and a berth in the NAIA Division II Tournament in his first season of 2004–05. Smith's second season as Mayville State head coach in 2005–06 had a 28–6 record, good enough to break the record for most wins in program history. Mayville won the

Dakota Athletic Conference The Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC) was a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). As the name implies, member teams were located in the states of North Dakota and South Dakota. T ...

(DAC) regular season and conference titles and qualified for the NAIA Tournament for the second straight season, this time making the quarterfinals. With a 27–9 record in Smith's final season 2006–07, Mayville State won both DAC titles again and made the championship round of the NAIA tournament as a no. 13 seed. Smith won NAIA Division II Coach of the Year honors in 2007 and DAC Coach of the Year Honors in 2006 and 2007.

Assistant coach at Colorado State and Nebraska (2007–2014)

Smith got his first

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

job on April 10, 2007, as director of operations at

, his third association with Tim Miles. Miles promoted Smith to a full assistant coach in 2008. During his time at Colorado State, Smith helped the team qualify for the 2010 CBI, 2011 NIT, and 2012 NCAA tournament. On April 25, 2012, Smith followed Miles to

after Miles took the head coaching job there. Smith helped Nebraska make the 2014 NCAA tournament.

South Dakota (2014–2018)

Smith became a head coach again on March 24, 2014, when

athletic director David Herbster named Smith men's basketball head coach. Following a 12–18 season in 2013–14, South Dakota went 17–16 (10–8 in

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

play) in Smith's first season of 2014–15. In 2016–17, Smith won

Coach of the Year honors after South Dakota won the Summit League regular season title and qualified for the 2017 NIT. Smith's last season in 2017 with the Coyotes ended 26–9, with a 2nd-place finish in the Summit League both in the regular season and conference tournament, the Coyotes would later fall to North Texas in the

2018 College Basketball Invitational The 2018 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was a single-elimination tournament, single-elimination men's college basketball tournament consisting of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (NCAA), Division I teams that d ...

first round 77–90.

Utah State (2018–2021)

On March 26, 2018, Smith was announced as Utah State's new head coach after the firing of

Tim Duryea Timothy Lee Duryea (born November 16, 1964) is an American college basketball coach who was men's basketball head coach at Utah State Aggies men's basketball, Utah State, and is currently an assistant coach at Boise State Broncos men's basketbal ...

. In just his first season at the school, he led the Aggies to a share of the

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

regular-season title, as well as the tournament title. This performance earned them their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2011. The team repeated as Mountain West tournament champions in 2020, though the NCAA tournament was cancelled amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Smith earned his third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance with the Aggies with an at-large bid.

Utah (2021–2025)

Smith was hired to be the new head coach of the

Utah Utes men's basketball The Utah Utes men's basketball team, also known as the Runnin' Utes, represents the University of Utah as an NCAA Division I program that plays in the Big-12 Conference, Big-12. They play their home games at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The schoo ...

team on March 27, 2021. He was fired on February 24th, 2025.

Head coaching record

* 2020 NCAA Tournament cancelled

References

External links