Boyd adds Corey Smith to TTU Women's Soccer coaching staff
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – First-year Tennessee Tech women’s soccer head coach Corey Boyd has completed his staff and he’s bringing in a coach that has a championship pedigree and has spent time as a head coach. Corey Smith will fill in the final spot on the staff after spending the last year as the head women’s soccer coach at Birmingham-Southern. Among his 25 years of soccer experience, he has spent over six years coaching, whether as a head coach or an assistant and has put together an impressive resume.
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – First-year Tennessee Tech women's soccer head coach Corey Boyd has completed his staff and he's bringing in a coach that has a championship pedigree and has spent time as a head coach.
Corey Smith will fill in the final spot on the staff after spending the last year as the head women's soccer coach at Birmingham-Southern. Among his 25 years of soccer experience, he has spent over six years coaching, whether as a head coach or an assistant and has put together an impressive resume.
"I am really excited to be joining the Tennessee Tech staff and am thankful to Coach Boyd for believing in me and bringing me on board," Smith said. "It's a dream for a coach to be a part of a program that is successful and to be a part of a staff that wants to impact and change lives. Tennessee Tech Soccer and Coach Boyd's staff provide both of those opportunities and I look forward to being a part of it and winning championships along the way!"
Smith's past student-athletes have fond memories of their time under his tutelage:
- Former player Katie Capron -- "Corey never failed to use his heart and leadership as a coach to make us feel wanted, safe and understood. Corey is a coach who deserves every inch of recognition for his hard work and who he is as a person."
- Former player and colleague Trey Hines -- "Corey is a bright young coach who always puts his players first. He has one of the best soccer minds I've ever been around, and it is evident he truly wants the best for each individual and the team that he leads."
A 2017 graduate from BSC with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Smith helped lead the Panthers' men's soccer program to a 2020 Southern Athletic Association regular-season championship – the program's first – as well as its first NCAA appearance in 2022 with the Panthers' first SAA tournament championship. The team also reached three conference semifinals in four seasons.
Players under his watch have won 32 all-conference awards with six first-teamers, eight on the second-team and 18 garnering honorable mention nods. Three student-athletes have earned conference player of the year awards and three United Soccer Coaches All-Region.
Success has also followed on the academic side with three College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections and one Academic All-American, as well as three United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region and Scholar All-American selections.
In addition to the collegiate tenure, Smith also has six years of club coaching experience, including NPL and MLS Next – the highest level of club soccer in the United States. He has also earned USSF C, D, E and F coaching licenses. Additionally, Smith has eight years of experience facilitating, working and overseeing college camps on all NCAA levels for more than eight years.
Smith played on the BSC team from 2013 to 2017. Starting in 2014 and through his coaching tenure at Birmingham-Southern, he was the assistant director of the Excellence Through Fundamentals Soccer Camp, managing the camp rosters and staff, recruiting campers, coordinating travel and managing the field and equipment.
Following graduation, Smith served as a volunteer assistant coach. He then served as a freshman and varsity squads assistant coach at Vestavia Hills High School from 2018 to 2019. During that time, Smith, as the assistant director of coaching, also worked his way up the ladder at the Pele Academy from 2017 to 2019, going from staff coach, central director, junior academy director to camp director.
The 2019 season saw Smith rejoin BSC as its men's assistant coach and held that role until becoming the college's women's soccer head coach in 2023. In 2021, he became the coach for the Hoover-Vestavia program in MLS Next and continued that through 2023.
