Rick Smith is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
executive. He served as the
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the
Houston Texans of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) from 2006 to 2017. Smith also served as the team's executive vice president of football operations from 2012 to 2017.
Smith began his executive career with the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
in 2000 and served as their director of pro personnel for six seasons.
Early years
Smith played for the
Purdue Boilermakers
The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...
as a strong safety from 1988 to 1991. He graduated from that institution, where he served as a coach. After this stint, he coached for a month at
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...
before going to the NFL.
Executive career
Denver Broncos
In 1996, Smith was hired by the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
as their assistant defensive backs coach. In 2000, Smith transitioned to the Broncos' personnel department and became their director of pro personnel.
Houston Texans
On June 5, 2006, Smith was named the
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the
Houston Texans, replacing
Charley Casserly
Charley Casserly (born February 27, 1949) is an American football analyst and former executive. Casserly was the general manager of the National Football League's Washington Redskins and Houston Texans, being a part of three Super Bowl wins as ...
. Named by Texans' owner,
Bob McNair, Smith's appointment made him the youngest general manager in the NFL at the time at age 36. According to the Texans website, Smith was responsible for all aspects of football operations, salary cap management and budgeting. In 2012, Smith was given an additional role as the Texans' executive vice president of football operations and Smith oversaw all football-related operations and the player acquisition process as their executive vice president of football operations and general manager. In 2016, he was given a contract extension through 2020.
On December 31, 2017, Smith announced that he was taking a leave of absence to be with his wife, who was dealing with
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...
. On January 1, 2018, it was also reported that he would be gone for a year and that the Texans would hire a new general manager to take his place, which ultimately happened when the Texans' hired
Brian Gaine
Brian Gaine is an American football executive who works as the assistant general manager for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He served as the general manager of the Houston Texans from 2018 to 2019. Gaine began his execut ...
to replace Smith as their general manager on January 13, 2018. Smith retained his position as the Texans' executive vice president of football operations. However, Smith was not listed on the
Houston Texans front office roster in 2018 or 2019 and through longtime Texans' beat writer John McClain the ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...
'' has reported multiple times that Smith will not be returning to the Texans in any capacity in 2019.
Personal life
Smith and his wife, Tiffany, were married in 2002 and have three children together. On January 31, 2019, Tiffany died due to
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...
.
Smith is an executive board member of
Pro-Vision Academy,
a charter school and non-profit organization in Houston that provides educational services to children.
References
External links
"Rick Smith"at www.houstontexans.com. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rick
Sportspeople from Petersburg, Virginia
National Football League general managers
Houston Texans executives
Denver Broncos coaches
Denver Broncos executives
Purdue Boilermakers football players
Purdue Boilermakers football coaches
TCU Horned Frogs football coaches
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)