John Richard Smith (born 29 October 1971) is an English retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

who spent his entire career in the United States. He is currently the head coach of the Cornell University men's soccer team.

Player

Smith moved to the United States to attend

Rollins College Rollins College is a private college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several graduate programs. It is Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institution. History Rollins Colle ...

where he played on the men's soccer team from 1993 to 1996. He finished his career at Rollins with the school record for career points (142) and career assists (42). He is third on the career goals list with fifty. He was a 1995 Division II Second Team All American and a 1996 Division II First Team All American. On 1 February 1997, the Columbus Crew selected Smith in the second round (thirteenth overall) of the

1997 MLS College Draft The 1997 Major League Soccer College Draft was held on February 1 and 2, 1997 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The draft was held in conjunction with the Umbro Select College All-Star Classic. The first round of the draft took place at halftime of the ...

. The Crew released him during the pre-season and he signed with the Orlando Sundogs of the USISL A-League. In July 1997, the Sundogs traded Smith to the Nashville Metros. In 1998, he tied for tenth on the USISL A-League scoring list. In 1999, he played for the Hershey Wildcats and one game for the Rochester Rhinos.

Coaching

In 1998, Smith became an assistant coach with the Cal State Bakersfield soccer program, where he worked with both the men's and women's teams. In March 2006, the University of the Incarnate Word hired Smith as head coach of its men's soccer program. He coached the then- Division II Incarnate Word team for five seasons, until he was hired away to be an assistant coach for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

. After Stanford won the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship, Smith was announced as the head coach of the

Cornell Big Red The Cornell Big Red is the informal name of the sports teams, and other competitive teams, that represent Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York. The university sponsors 37 varsity sports, as well as numerous intramural and club team ...

on March 8, 2016.

References

External links

University of Incarnate Word
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John Living people English footballers English expatriate footballers English football managers Hershey Wildcats players Nashville Metros players Orlando Sundogs players Rochester New York FC players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Columbus Crew draft picks A-League (1995–2004) players Rollins College alumni Rollins Tars men's soccer players Cornell Big Red men's soccer coaches Incarnate Word Cardinals men's soccer coaches 1971 births Association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers from Wigan English expatriate football managers Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's soccer coaches Stanford Cardinal men's soccer coaches