Kyle Smith
6/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Kyle Smith, who joined the Saint Mary's coaching staff in 2001 as the first hire by Randy Bennett, enters his fifth year with the Gael basketball program. Smith's primary duties include co­or­di­nating the team's re­cruiting pro­gram, in­stalling the team's offen­sive game plan, and player de­vel­opment.
As the associate head coach the past five seasons, Smith has been a vital component to the Gaels' turnaround. With Smith's help, Saint Mary's scored a school record 2,377 points and averaged 76.7 points per game, during the 2003-04 campaign. The following season, 2004-05, Saint Mary's posted a 25-9 overall record, matching the school record for wins in a season, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team, earning a 10-seed.
In his first season with the program, SMC made the biggest turn­around in scoring de­fense in the nation. After allowing 79.9 points per game in 2000-01, the Gaels held opponents to 64.1 points per game the next year, an im­provement of 15.8 points in one year. The Gaels would then hold oppo­nents to 64.1 points per game in year two and year four, which were the best scoring defense in the West Coast Con­ference for the third time in four years.
Before coming to Saint Mary's, Smith spent one season as the top assistant at the Air Force Academy of the Mountain West Con­ference. During his only season with the Fal­cons, Smith served as the offensive co­or­di­nator, recruiting coordinator, and helped with player de­vel­opment and scouting.
Before joining the Academy, Smith served an eight-year stint at the University of San Di­ego, beginning his coaching career under Hank Egan from 1992-94. He then served the next six years under current San Diego head coach Brad Holland. During his time at USD, Smith helped lead the team to the sec­ond most vic­to­ries in school history from1999-01. As the Asso­ciate Head Coach, USD's de­fense led the WCC in fewest points allowed (62.6 ppg) and was also ranked among the top-20 in the coun­try in re­bounding mar­gin in 2001.
The 36-year-old Smith is a 1992 graduate of Hamilton College where he earned a bachelor's de­gree in En­glish Lit­era­ture. Smith was a four-year bas­ket­ball letterman and helped the 1990-91 squad to a 26-1 record, in­cluding a 24-0 regu­lar sea­son, and a #1 na­tional ranking in Di­vision III. As the starting point guard, and team cap­tain as a se­nior, Smith av­eraged 10.0 points per game and led the team in assists, steals, free throw per­centage and three-point accu­racy.
A native of Hous­ton, Texas, Smith earned his Mas­ter of Arts De­gree in Edu­ca­tional Lead­ership from the Uni­ver­sity of San Di­ego in 2000.
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