Brian Smith
Brian Smith went 9–4 as a head coach, 2024–2025, at Ohio. Share
- Record
- 9–4 career
- Seasons
- 2
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jul 15, 1979
- Alma mater
- Hawai’i 2001
- Best season
- 2024 11–3
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Ohio interim, bowl game | 1–0 | Cure Bowl W | |||
| 2025 | Ohio | 8–4 | T–2nd | Frisco (not coached) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 2 | 2–0 | 100% |
| Conference games | 8 | 6–2 | 75% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 8 | 5–3 | 63% |
| At home | 6 | 6–0 | 100% |
| On the road | 6 | 2–4 | 33% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 12 | 9–3 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
His own 13 games on file, 2024–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Massachusettsseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Bowling Greenseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Miami (OH)series | 1 | 1–0 |
| West Virginiaseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Buffaloseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Eastern Michiganseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Gardner-Webbseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Also a player: Brian Smith’s playing career.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Royal HS (CA) high school | Offensive line coach | |
| 2004 | Hawaii | Student assistant | |
| 2005 | Cal Lutheran | Running backs and wide receivers coach | |
| 2006 | Oregon State | Graduate assistant | |
| 2007 | Portland State | Offensive line coach | |
| 2008 | Hawaii | Offensive line coach | |
| 2009–11 | Hawaii | Running backs coach | |
| 2012 | Cal Lutheran | Offensive line coach | |
| 2013–15 | Occidental | Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| 2016 | Hawaii | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2017 | Hawaii | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs and tight ends coach | |
| 2018–19 | Hawaii | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2020 | Washington State | Offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2021 | Washington State | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2022 | Ohio | Passing game coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2023 | Ohio | Assistant head coach, passing game coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2024 | Ohio | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2024 | Ohio | Head coach | |
| 2025 | Ohio | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included. Head-coaching seasons the infobox leaves out come from our records.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- June JonesHawai’i
- Mike RileyOregon State
- Jerry GlanvillePortland State
- Greg McMackinHawai’i
- Nick RolovichHawai’i, Washington State
- Jake DickertWashington State
- Tim AlbinOhio
Assistants who became head coaches
- John HauserOhio
- Chris WoodsTexas State, Mansfield, Stonehill
Worked under (7)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June Jones | Hawai’i | 2004 | Student assistant | |
| Mike Riley | Oregon State | 2006 | Graduate assistant | |
| Jerry Glanville | Portland State | 2007 | Offensive line coach | |
| Greg McMackin | Hawai’i | 2008–11 | 2008: offensive line coach; 2009–11: running backs coach | |
| Nick Rolovich | Hawai’i | 2016–19 | 2016–19: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2017: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs and tight ends coach | |
| Nick Rolovich | Washington State | 2020–21 | 2020: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2021: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Jake Dickert | Washington State | 2021 | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Tim Albin | Ohio | 2022–24 | 2022: passing game coordinator and running backs coach; 2023: assistant head coach, passing game coordinator and running backs coach; 2024: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (2)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Hauser | Ohio, 2024: defensive coordinator and safeties coach; 2025: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Ohio | |
| Chris Woods | Ohio, 2025: linebackers coach | Texas State, Mansfield, Stonehill |
Other assistants under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Allen Rudolph | Ohio, 2024: offensive line coach | |
| Kurt Mattix | Ohio, 2024: defensive ends coach | |
| Nate Faanes | Ohio, 2024: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Scott Isphording | Ohio, 2024: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2024–25: passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Smith’s teams went for it on 34% of fourth downs and on 57% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 40% of plays and took 28.3 seconds a play, in 2025.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 13 g | 28 of 83 34% | 57% | 40% | 28.3 | +0.14 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.