Kyle Smith (basketball)

Kyle Andrew Smith (born June 26, 1969) is an American college basketball coach who is the men's head coach for the Stanford Cardinal of the ACC. Prior to joining the Cardinal, Smith was the head coach at Columbia University, the University of San Francisco, and Washington State University. In his final season at Columbia, he led the team to a CIT Championship over UC Irvine. His coaching style has been dubbed “Nerdball”, which is a system that utilizes analytics to track and make decisions on many aspects about the team.

Early life

Smith was born in El Paso, Texas, and raised on the Fort Bliss Army base. He played basketball at Alief Hastings High School in Houston, and graduated in 1988.

Playing career

Smith was a member of New York's Hamilton College men's basketball team that achieved a 26–1 record his junior season and achieved the national Division III #1 ranking. He also shot 51.3 percent from three-point range, which still stands as a Hamilton single-season record. Additionally, University of Richmond head men's basketball coach Chris Mooney referred to Smith as "the smartest man in college basketball. I think he has the best feel and overview of basketball programs and coaching of anyone I've ever met." Smith has a master's degree in educational leadership from the University of San Diego.

Coaching career

In his first season at Columbia, Smith piloted the Lions to a 15–13 record, becoming the first new Columbia head coach in 33 years to notch a winning season in his inaugural campaign. Smith backed up his offensive reputation with sterling numbers on that side of the ball in year one in Morningside Heights; the Lions scored over 10 points per game more in 2010–11 than they did the year before and scored more than 70 points 15 times during the entire season.