DeAndre Smith (born November 5, 1968) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

running backs coach for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

and former professional player in Ligue Élite de Football Américain in France for the Aix-en-Provence Argonautes in 1993. He also spent time in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

in 1992. Smith previously served as the running backs coach for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and at

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

from 2019 to 2021. He has coached other college football teams such as

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

and Utah State.

Playing career

Smith was the

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

of a very potent triple-option offense for Missouri State football teams of the Bears' I-AA era. Smith led the Bears to the Gateway Football Conference championship and the 1989 NCAA Division I-AA and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

playoffs under coach Jesse Branch. Smith came to Missouri State from St. Louis, Missouri in 1987 and quarterbacked the Bears all four of his college years, with his top exploits coming in his final two seasons. During Smith's junior season, MSU finished 10-3 and got to the second round of the playoffs. When Smith was a senior MSU finished 9–3, losing in the playoff first round to Idaho. Smith was a two-time all-league first team quarterback. Smith was the Gateway Offensive Player of the Year as both a junior and senior, and was the Gateway Offensive Player of the Decade for the league's first 10 years of existence, 1985–95. Smith was a consensus I-AA All-America as a senior, winning top honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Associated Press, Football Gazette, The Sports Network and American Football Coaches Association. Smith's numbers were as notable as his honors, as he started 34 of the 45 MSU games he played, completing 281 of 493 passes for 4,080 yards and 18 touchdowns with a .570 completion mark. His 405 passing yards in 1990 at Tulsa set an MSU single-game record. He was also a prolific runner, carrying the ball 613 times for 2,276 yards and 40 more touchdowns. He set MSU career records for plays run (1,106), total yards (6,356), points (242), touchdowns (40), completion percentage (.570) and consecutive games scoring a TD (10). Smith was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. His #1 jersey was retired by MSU in 2012.

Coaching career

Indiana State

Smith was hired by Indiana state as their offensive coordinator and Quarterbacks coach from (1999–2000).

Northern Illinois

He was then hired by

as their running backs coach and special team coach from (2001–2004). During his time in Northern Illinois he won his first bowl game with the team's victory over the

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

with the final score (34–21). He helped develop Michael Turner who led the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC) in rushing twice (2002–2003)

Miami RedHawks

On January 21, 2005, Smith was hired as their running backs coach and running game coordinator under head coach

Shane Montgomery Shane Montgomery (born March 14, 1967) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the offensive coordinator for Dartmouth College, a position he has held since 2025. He was the head football coach for Miami University from 20 ...

. He was the running backs coach for miami RedHawks from 2005 to 2007.

New Mexico

Smith was hired by

as their running backs coach under head coach Matt Wells (American football coach) in 2008.

UNLV

Smith was hired by

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

as their running backs coach under head coach Mike Sanford Sr. in 2009. When Sanford got fired, Smith wasn't retained.

Illinois

Smith left UNLV after one season to join

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

as their running backs coach from (2010–2011).

New Mexico(second stint)

Smith was hired by New Mexico in 2012 as their running backs coach under head coach Bob Davie (American football). Smith joined New Mexico to help develop his son Ryan Smith who was a freshman running back for

Syracuse

Smith was hired by Syracuse in 2013 as their running back coach reuniting him with his old offensive coordinator in

and now head coach

Scott Shafer Scott Shafer (born January 6, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He has served as the defensive coordinator for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. Previously, he served as the head coach at Syracuse University until N ...

. Smith has coached nine different 1,000-yard rushers during his 14-year college coaching. Smith and the rest of the staff were fired with one game remaining after a 4–8 season in 2015.

Purdue

Smith was supposed to join

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

as their running back coach but later was hired by

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

as their running backs coach under head coach

Darrell Hazell Darrell Ivan Hazell (born April 14, 1964) is a former American football coach. Hazell has been a head coach twice, with Kent State from 2011 to 2012, and Purdue from 2013 to 2016. A native of Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey, Hazell graduated ...

in 2016.

North Carolina

On March 2, 2017, Smith was hired by

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

as their running backs coach under head coach

Larry Fedora Herbert Lawrence Fedora (born September 10, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the former coach and General manager (American football), general manager for the New Orleans Breakers (2022), New Orleans Breakers of the Un ...

. Chris Kapilovic the offensive coordinator and Smith played together in college for the Missouri State.

Utah State

Smith was hired by Utah State as their running backs coach reuniting him with head coach Matt Wells (American football coach) which they worked together in 2008 in

Texas Tech

On December 12, 2018, Smith was hired by

as their running backs coach, following Matt Wells who was hired as the program's head coach. Wells was fired in the middle of the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, with offensive coordinator

Sonny Cumbie Sonny Jack Cumbie (born August 8, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback. He currently serves as the head football coach at Louisiana Tech University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Cumbie previously served as ...

being named interim head coach. The program hired

Joey McGuire Joe Newton McGuire (born August 6, 1971) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Texas Tech University, a position he had held since the 2022 season. McGuire previously served as the associate head coach and outside lineba ...

as Wells's permanent replacement; McGuire retained Smith as the Red Raiders' running backs coach.

New York Giants

On February 11, 2022, Smith was hired by the

as their running backs coach under head coach

Brian Daboll Brian Michael Daboll (; born April 14, 1975) is a Canadian American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach of the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the offensive coordina ...

Indianapolis Colts

On February 18, 2023, Smith was reported to be hired by the

as their running backs coach under head coach

Shane Steichen Shane Steichen ( ; born May 11, 1985) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the San Die ...

References

External links

Texas Tech profile

New York Giants profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, DeAndre 1968 births Living people Players of American football from St. Louis Canadian football quarterbacks American football quarterbacks Missouri State Bears football players Toronto Argonauts players American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in France Coaches of American football from Missouri Indiana State Sycamores football coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Miami RedHawks football coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Utah State Aggies football coaches Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches New York Giants coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches