Frank Smith Named Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach

April 29, 2003

Clemson men’s basketball head coach Oliver Purnell has named Frank Smith an assistant basketball coach for the Tigers. Smith began his full-time coaching career for the 1990-91 season at Radford under Purnell and has been a member of his coaching staff at three universities since that time. The teams on which Smith has served as an assistant have recorded a 234-156 record, with three NCAA appearances and three NIT appearances, including the 24-6 mark set by the 2002-03 Dayton Flyers team that won the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Smith began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Old Dominion in 1988-89. He joined Purnell’s staff at Radford in the 1990-91 season, and then returned to Old Dominion with Purnell as an assistant prior to the 1991-92 season. He was named assistant at Dayton on April 27, 1994. Smith led the 2000 Nacel Open Door Team America All-Stars to Italy, a team that included Dayton’s Keith Waleskowski and Tony Stanley.

A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Smith was an all-star performer in football and basketball at Mt. Vernon High School. He quarterbacked Mt. Vernon to the 1983 state championship, and was heavily recruited to play big-time football.

Smith, like Purnell, is one of the top guards in Old Dominion University history. Smith holds the ODU records for assists in a career (883), a total that still ranks in the top 20 in NCAA history. Smith played for the Monarchs from 1984 to 1988, and was a freshman at Old Dominion during Purnell’s final year as an assistant at ODU. (Purnell then went on to coach at Maryland.) As a senior, Smith was ODU’s Most Valuable Player and an honorable mention All-America, leading the team to an 18-12 record and an NIT appearance. Smith earned his Bachelor of Science in Business