A longtime Division I assistant and former Atlantic 10 standout, Kevin Smith has joined the staff of Fordham Men’s Basketball Head Coach Mike Magpayo, it was announced on Wednesday.

 “Kevin Smith will bring Atlantic 10 Championship experience to Fordham having made back-to-back NCAA tournaments as a player at Richmond,” said Magpayo. “Coach Smith is a high-energy coach who has coordinated recruiting and offense at his previous stops. Most importantly, Kevin has won everywhere he has coached. We look forward to welcoming Kevin and his family, who I know well from our time together at Campbell University.” 

 Smith arrives in the Bronx after spending three years on staff at Charlotte, where he helped lead the 49ers to a pair of winning seasons.  During his first year in the Queen City, Charlotte captured the CBI title and tallied 22 victories, matching the program’s highest win total since 1998-99.  The 49ers followed that up with a 19-12 effort in 2023-24 that included a 13-5 showing during the program’s debut season in the American Athletic Conference.  Charlotte placed two players, Lu’Cye Patterson and Igor Milicic, onto all-conference teams in 2024 before they transferred to Minnesota and Tennessee, respectively.  The previous season, Charlotte saw Brice Williams earn Second Team All-CUSA honors before he transferred to Nebraska and earned First Team All-Big Ten honors.

 Prior to his time at Charlotte, Smith spent seven years on staff at Campbell, where he coached alongside Magpayo from 2015-17.  The Fighting Camels turned in winning records five times during Smith’s seven seasons in Buies Creek, including a 20-13 mark in 2018-19 that saw the program win the Big South Regular Season Championship, secure a bid to the NIT and reach 20 wins for the first time since 1993-94.  That 2018-19 team was led by Chris Clemons, the 2019 Big South Player of the Year who led the nation in scoring with 30.1 points per game on his way to Third Team USBWA All-American honors.  Clemons played 33 games for the Houston Rockets in 2019-20.

 Smith began his coaching career at his alma mater, Richmond, where he was the Spiders’ director of basketball operations from 2013-15.  In 2014-15, Richmond went 21-14, 12-6 in the league, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT before falling to Miami.

 As a player under longtime head coach Chris Mooney, Smith helped the Spiders turn in a four-year record of 91-48 from 2007-11, including a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2010 and 2011.  Over Smith’s last two seasons, the Spiders went 54-17, including a 26-6 showing in the A-10.  As a senior, Smith led Richmond to an Atlantic 10 Championship before the Spiders knocked off Vanderbilt and Morehead State to reach the Sweet 16.  The Murfreesboro, Tenn., native also earned a spot on the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team as a senior in 2011.
After graduating with a degree in political science, Smith played professionally in Japan, Luxembourg and Hungary before the returning home to begin his coaching career.

 Smith and his wife, Alyssa, have three children: Elaina, Emme and Beau.