Quintin Smith returns for his third year on the NSU football coaching staff. After serving as receivers coach in 2012, Smith is now in his second year working with the Spartan cornerbacks.
Smith helped coach an athletic, productive secondary last season. The unit finished tied for fifth in the nation (FCS) in interceptions (19) and sixth in fewest passing yards allowed (159.0). Junior cornerback Darrin Marrow was a big reason for that success. In his first season at corner after switching from safety, Marrow tied for the MEAC-lead and tied for 13th in the nation with five interceptions. He was a first-team All-MEAC pick.
In his first year at NSU (2012) on the other side of the ball, Smith tutored second-team All-MEAC receiver Xavier Boyce. Both Boyce and teammate Derrick Demps ranked among the MEAC’s top 10 in receptions and receiving yards that year. Boyce’s 58 catches in 2012 rank as the fourth-most in a single season in school history and gave him 126 for his two-year Spartan career, also fourth-best in program annals.
Smith came to NSU after serving as tight ends coach at Texas Southern University in 2011.
Smith has an extensive background in both coaching and scouting. Prior to joining TSU, Smith was a scouting consultant for the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2009 and 2010. Smith’s first professional scouting experience came as an area scout for the Kansas City Chiefs (1994-99) and Minnesota Vikings (1999-2000).
Following his stint as an NFL scout, Smith teamed with Spartan head coach Pete Adrian and assistant head coach Rod Holder on the staff of the XFL’s Chicago Enforcers in 2000-01. Smith served as the director of player personnel for the Enforcers, who advanced to the league playoffs in their only season.
Smith also has extensive experience coaching at the high school level in his native Texas. Smith was assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Ross Sterling High School in Houston, Texas, from 2004-05. He then moved to his high school alma mater, Jack Yates High School, also in Houston, as offensive coordinator and receivers coach from 2005-08. With Smith on staff, Yates made three consecutive state playoff appearances and had 25 players sign college scholarships. Smith’s most recent high school coaching stop came at Thurgood Marshall High School (Missouri City, Texas), where he was the defensive backs coach from 2008-09.
Aside from his scholastic coaching experience, Smith also worked for four years as an instructor at Football University, which sponsors dozens of camps each year for grade school children. The company is also affiliated with the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
A Houston native, Smith was an all-conference and honorable mention All-America selection as a receiver at the University of Kansas. After his career with the Jayhawks, Smith signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 1990 and played with them until 1992. He is a 1986 graduate of Yates High School, where he was a member of the 1985 state championship team that went 16-0.
Smith earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Kansas in 1990. He and his wife, Rhonda, have two children – a son, Grayson, and a daughter, Channing.
