Allen Lamont Smith (born October 19, 1975) is an American former college basketball coach, who was most recently an assistant coach at the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

for the

UTEP Miners men's basketball The UTEP Miners basketball team plays for University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas. The team is an NCAA Division I men's college basketball team competing in the Conference USA. Home games are played at Don Haskins Center. History 1966 ...

team. He was previously the head coach at his alma mater

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

, which he left in March 2018. Smith resigned from UTEP in March 2019 after the University of San Diego revealed that Smith was accused of accepting a bribe in the

2019 college admissions bribery scandal In 2019, a scandal arose over a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. The investigation into the conspiracy was code named Operation Varsity Blues. The investigation and rela ...

Early life

Born and raised in

The Colony, Texas The Colony is a city in Denton County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Dallas. The population was 44,534 at the 2020 census. History The Colony derives its name from the original Peters Colony. The Peters Colony headquarters was located wi ...

, Smith played for the

San Diego Toreros The San Diego Toreros are the 17 teams representing the University of San Diego of San Diego, California in intercollegiate athletics. The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the National Collegiate At ...

from 1995 to 1999. He earned team defensive player of the year honors in 1997 and 1999. Smith graduated from the University of San Diego in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in communications.

Coaching career

Smith began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Saint Louis. He was an assistant coach at

Saint Mary's St. Mary's, St. Marys, or St. Maries may refer to the following places: Australia * St Marys, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** St Marys railway station, Sydney ** North St Marys, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * St Marys, South Austra ...

from 2001 to 2007, when he took an assistant gig at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

. Smith was at Santa Clara for one season, and he left to fill an assistant position at

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. At Arizona State, he helped develop

James Harden James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Harden is regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards in NBA ...

and the Sun Devils experienced two 20-win seasons in his four years with the team. Smith became an assistant coach at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 2012 and spent one season on the bench with the Huskies. From 2013 to 2015 Smith served as an assistant coach at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. On April 1, 2015, Smith was hired as head coach of the

. He takes over for the fired

Bill Grier William Theodore Grier (born October 19, 1963) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently an assistant coach at the University of Colorado and was formerly the head men's basketball coach at the University of San Diego. Early caree ...

. "We're irrelevant right now in terms of basketball in this city," said Smith. San Diego went 9–21 in his first season of 2015–16 and improved to 13–18 in 2016–17. As of the last game he coached on February 24, 2018, San Diego was 18–12 (9–9 WCC), the most successful record during his tenure.

Legal issues

San Diego placed Smith on administrative leave on February 26, 2018, a day after Smith was arrested at the

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...

on charges of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

, assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury, and

false imprisonment False imprisonment or unlawful imprisonment occurs when a person intentionally restricts another person’s movement within any area without legal authority, justification, or the restrained person's permission. Actual physical restraint is ...

. The arrest was shortly before the team's flight back to San Diego following a win over

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on February 24. Smith was released from jail on a reported $115,000 bail. On March 7, 2018, Smith resigned after three seasons as San Diego's head coach, just hours after the domestic violence charges against him were dropped. A month later, on April 11, he was hired by

Rodney Terry Rodney Eric Terry (born March 27, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who is the interim head coach at Texas. Early life and education Born in Angleton, Texas, Terry graduated from Angleton High School and played college basketball at ...

to be an assistant coach for the

team. Smith resigned from UTEP on March 20, 2019, after the University of San Diego revealed that Smith was accused of accepting a bribe in the

for allegedly illegally helping a

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

real estate developer's children gain admission to the university. On November 13, 2020, Martin Fox was sentenced to three months in prison, three months of home confinement, 250 hours of community service, forfeiture of $245,000 and an additional fine of $95,000 after pleading guilty to bribing Smith. In March 2022, it was reported that of all of the coaches implicated in the 2019 college admissions scandal, which included Smith,

Jovan Vavic Jovan Vavic (born ) is the former head coach of both the University of Southern California (USC) men's and women's water polo teams. In 2012, he was interim head coach of the United States men's national water polo team. While coaching USC he won ...

was the only one of these coaches to challenge the charges brought against them in court, and, unlike Smith, the only coach to remain a defendant in the case as well. Unlike Martin Fox and other plaintiffs, Department of Justice does not list Smith as among those who were charged during the admission scandal's investigation.

Head coaching record

References