John David Smith (born March 12, 1969) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the

Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball The Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball team represents California Polytechnic State University, located in San Luis Obispo, California. The school's team currently competes in the Big West Conference. The Cal Poly men's basketball team's first ...

team.

Playing career

A standout at

John W. North High School John W. North High School is a public high school in Riverside, California, part of the Riverside Unified School District, and the home of the Huskies. It is an International Baccalaureate school. History John Wesley North High School was establ ...

, Smith originally began his college basketball career at

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

under

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

, who coached Smith's father, Fred "Lucky" Smith, while he was the head coach at

Riverside City College Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System. History RCC first opened in 1916 at ...

. Smith would finish his playing career at Dominican where he played for his brother Steve, and was a NAIA All-California honorable mention and all-conference selection. Smith graduated from Dominican in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Coaching career

Smith's coaching career included stops at the

College of Southern Idaho College of Southern Idaho (CSI) is a public community college in Twin Falls, Idaho. It also has off-campus programs in Jerome, Hailey, Burley and Gooding. Until the foundation of the College of Western Idaho in 2007, CSI was one of only two ...

and Chaffey College as well as the high school ranks at his alma mater J.W. North, and Valley View High School as an assistant coach. In 2000, Smith was hired was the head coach and assistant athletic director at

San Bernardino Valley College San Bernardino Valley College is a public community college in San Bernardino, California. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The college has an enrollment of 17,044 students and covers . Valley College is also a ...

. He would guide the team to an 88–40 record in four seasons, including a Foothill Conference championship during the 2002–03 season. In 2004, Smith accepted the head coaching position at

where he went 196–87 with four conference championships including the 2009 California State Championship, the school's first in 43 years since when Jerry Tarkanian was coaching. Smith accepted the position of assistant coach at

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

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Dedrique Taylor Dedrique LaMonte Taylor (born May 1, 1974) is the current college basketball head coach for Cal State Fullerton. He is also a former Arizona State associate head men's basketball coach and a college assistant coach. Early life and education Afte ...

in 2013. He would stay on staff for six seasons and was part of the Titans' Big West Conference tournament-winning squad and 2018 NCAA tournament appearance. On March 28, 2019, Smith was named the head coach at Cal Poly, replacing Joe Callero.

Personal life

Smith's son Jamal currently plays for Cal State Fullerton, while his daughter Kianna plays basketball at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. His father "Lucky" also played college basketball at Utah State and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, and was a sixth round selection of the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

in the 1968 NBA draft.

Head coaching record

References

Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Riverside, California Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball coaches Cal State Fullerton Titans men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Dominican University of California alumni Riverside City Tigers men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Riverside, California UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball players 1969 births {{US-basketball-coach-stub