The 2011-12 basketball season marks the return to the Sunshine State of one of the most highly respected basketball coaches in Florida high school history, as Cayll Smith enters his first year as USF's Video Coordinator.
Smith was previously responsible for a host of administrative duties in his previous stint Director of Basketball Operations including film exchange, travel, and the running of the Jose Fernandez USF Girls Summer Basketball Camp and the coordination and running of the popular USF Women's Basketball Golf Tournament. Smith also spent time with Robert Morris in between stints with USF.
Smith’s new duties involve breaking down field, providing tapes for coaches and Fernandez said he’ll be play an important role in pregame preparation.
Smith, who returns to the Tampa Bay area as one of the most recognizable - and successful - names in Florida high school basketball, began his coaching career in 1974 - just one year after graduating from Niagara University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History - as head boys junior varsity coach at Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota. After a two-year stint at Mooney, Smith served one season (1976-77) as assistant boys coach at Sarasota's Riverview High School.
It was at Riverview where Smith started to make a name for himself. In 25 years at the helm of the Rams, and before his retirement in 2002, Smith would amass the fourth most wins in state history while posting a remarkable 538-169 career coaching record.
During his time at Riverview, Smith helped the Rams to the Florida state tournament in 14 of their 20 appearances all-time between 1985 and 2001, including a run to the state semifinals in 1992 before losing to eventual state champion Dr. Phillips High School in overtime 66-64. Smith also guided Riverview to regional final games in 1998 and 2001.
Smith was named the Florida Girl's Basketball Coach of the Year in both 1992 and 1997 and was the recipient of several area Coach of the Year awards given by local newspapers.
Smith spent the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach at Northern Arizona University where he was involved in all facets of on and off the court coaching including post player development, scouting reports and recruiting, in addition to administrative duties that included, amongst other things, scheduling.
Prior to his time in Flagstaff, Smith served one season (2006-07) as women's basketball video coordinator at Syracuse where he was responsible for breaking down game and practice films and assisting in the preparation of scouting reports.
During his career, Smith has also served as assistant boys weightlifting coach, assistant varsity softball coach and head girls golf coach at Riverview where he taught from 1977-2006.
Smith earned his Master's of Arts degree in Humanities in 1994 from the University of California-Dominguez Hills.
