Chad Smith joined the University of South Alabama staff as director of football strength and conditioning at the beginning of the 2020 spring semester.
He came to the program after serving as the director of strength and conditioning at Florida International — where he oversaw all aspects of the program for 14 men’s and women’s sports — for seven years.
During his last three seasons with the program, the Panthers posted a combined 23-16 overall record and 14-10 mark in Conference USA play while appearing in a bowl each year.  FIU finished 8-5, including going 5-3 in league action, to earn a bid to the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl in 2017, while a year later the team went 9-4 overall with a 6-2 C-USA record following a victory over Toledo in the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl.  Smith’s final season with the program saw the Panthers earn in invitation to the Camellia Bowl as well.
Before going to FIU, Smith was an assistant strength and conditioning coach for two-and-a-half years at Mississippi State, where in addition to football he worked with Bulldogs’ men’s and women’s tennis and track and field teams.  In 2010, MSU ended up in the top 15 of the final Associated Press poll after posting a 9-4 mark following a 52-14 defeat of Michigan in the Progressive Gator Bowl while the next season saw the Bulldogs post a winning record for the second year in a row after closing out the campaign with victories over rival Ole Miss and Wake Forest in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.
As a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at Memphis for three years, Smith worked not only with the Tiger football team but the school’s baseball and softball programs as well.  During his final two seasons at the school, the Tigers earned bids to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl.
Smith is a 2006 graduate of Chattanooga, where he was a fullback on the Moc football team for five years including a redshirt season before earning a bachelor’s degree in exercise science.  He received his master’s degree in human movement sciences from Memphis in 2009.
Smith — who holds certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the United States Weightlifting Federation and the American Red Cross — has also completed internships at Chattanooga and South Florida.
The Smith File
Born: June 15, 1981
Education:
Chattanooga ’06, bachelor’s degree in exercise science
Memphis ’09, bachelor’s degree in human movement sciences
Collegiate Playing Experience:Â Four years, fullback, Chattanooga
Coaching Experience:
Chattanooga — strength and conditioning intern, 2005
Memphis — graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach, 2006-08
Mississippi State — assistant strength and conditioning coach, 2009-11
Florida International — strength and conditioning coach, 2012-19
South Alabama — director of strength and conditioning/football, 2020-
Â
