Zach Smith Named Wide Receivers Coach
Spent five years with Urban Meyer at Florida; positions also at Marshall and Temple
OLUMBUS,
Ohio – Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer has recruited an assistant
from his Florida staff with the announcement today that Zach Smith
would join his Ohio State coaching staff as a wide receivers coach.
Smith was wide receivers and special teams coach for the past year at
Temple University, which won nine games this season, including its
first bowl win (37-15 over Wyoming in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl) in 32
years. “Zach Smith has already coached with me for five
seasons, and so I know what a quality coach he is,” Meyer said. “He
knows my system inside and out and he teaches the system the way I want
it to be taught. He has coached and taught some great players already,
like Percy Harvin, Aaron Hernandez and Louis Murphy.” Smith
spent five years as a graduate assistant and quality control assistant
for Meyer at Florida, during which time Florida won a pair of national
championships while producing some of the best offensive and special
teams units in the country. Smith was a special teams quality control
coach for three years (2005-07) and an offensive graduate assistant for
the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He assisted with coaching the UF wide
receivers, quarterbacks and special teams during his time in
Gainesville. Smith left Florida to work on Doc Holliday’s
staff at Marshall for the 2010 season. He then moved on to Temple when
Steve Addazio took over that program this year. He was coach of the
wide receivers and special teams at both schools. Marshall’s
receivers totaled 152 catches for 1,824 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2010
and featured all-Conference USA performer Aaron Dobson. Temple’s
receivers managed 66 catches for 961 yards and eight touchdowns despite
the Owls featuring the seventh-best rushing offense in the country and
the top unit in the Mid-American Conference. Additionally,
Temple’s special teams ranked first in the MAC in kickoff returns and
second in net punting and punt returns. Those units ranked fourth, 14th
and 23rd nationally. “Zach has done a terrific job as wide
receivers coach at both Marshall and this past year at Temple,” Meyer
said. “I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to work
with him again. Ohio State is going to benefit from his coaching and
his abilities as a recruiter.” Columbus is home for both Smith, a Dublin Coffman graduate, and his wife Courtney, who attended Thomas Worthington High School. “It
is really, really a dream come true,” Smith said Wednesday evening. “I
grew up watching Ohio State, my Grandfather coached here and I always
dreamt of doing it, too. “Plus I have an opportunity to
work with Coach Meyer again. I was able to spend five years on his
staff at Florida, and now working with him again is another dream come
true for me. It’s like two dreams coming true. I’m really excited, and
it is wonderful to be back home.” Even before accepting
this position, Smith has had an incredibly emotional week. While he has
experienced the thrill of a bowl victory and been recruited by Meyer to
coach at his hometown school that just happens to be one of the Top 5
programs in the country, it has been a most difficult time for he and
his extended family as well. His Grandmother, Jean Bruce, wife of 56
years to Earle Bruce, succumbed to illness last Friday – the day before
Temple’s bowl game – and she was laid to rest yesterday. “My
coming home has added another element to everything that has gone on
this week,” Smith said. “My Grandma would be very proud of me. I feel
honored to come back and work at this university where both she and my
Grandfather’s hearts have always been and I grew up loving.” Smith,
a 2007 graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in sports
management, and wife Courtney have one son, Cameron (2 in February) and
are expecting a second child.
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