Jeff Smart was hired by head coach Ryan Walters in 2023 after spending the two seasons at Colorado, his alma mater.
With the Buffs, Smart served as a quality control specialist on the defensive side of the ball in 2021 before getting elevated to assistant coach for the 2022 season. He primarily worked with the inside linebackers.
Smart joined the Colorado staff from the University of Missouri, where he was a quality control analyst for the defense for the 2020 season when the Tigers posted a 5-5 record but had their Music City Bowl date against Iowa canceled due to the COVID pandemic. He was a defensive coaching assistant for Boise State in 2019, his first full-time position in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Broncos were the Mountain West champions, defeating Hawai’i in the league’s title game and finishing 12-2 after a loss to Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl.
He served four seasons (2015-18) at the University of Pennsylvania, coaching the Quaker outside linebackers and was part of two Ivy League champion teams (tri-champs in 2015 and co-titlists in 2016). In 2016, he coached freshman Connor Jangro to All-Ivy League honors, Penn’s first freshman to earn All-Ivy distinction since 2009.
In his first season with the Quakers, Smart helped coach a defense which was second in the Ivy League and No. 8 among FCS programs in turnover margin in 2015 (+1.0), while the Red and Blue also led the league and ranked 13th nationally in sacks per game (2.9).
Smart’s outside linebackers were a big part of the championship, as they were led by Tyler Drake, the 2015 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and third-team All-American. Penn was 2-8 the year before he arrived there, but the Quaker had four winning seasons in as many years Smart was on staff, a s Columbia was 26-14 during his career there.
Prior to Penn, Smart served as Columbia University’s assistant director of strength and conditioning (July 2013 to January 2014), before being promoted to inside linebackers coach for the 2014 season. He got his start at CU, as he was the defensive graduate assistant for his college position coach, Brian Cabral. He assisted Cabral with the linebackers along with general overall duties with the defense.
Smart graduated from Colorado in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and earned his master’s of education from the school in 2013. He joined the football team as a walk-on inside linebacker in 2005, was awarded a scholarship three weeks into the 2007 season and was named a team captain as a senior, when he was coming off Second Team All-Big 12 honors his junior season (he would be named honorable mention his senior year). He won the Dave Jones Award his senior year, as his peers selected him as the most valuable defensive player in 2009.
A First Team NFF All-Colorado performer his junior and senior seasons, he finished his career ranked 18th all-time in overall tackles (291) and 13th in solo stops (188). Starting 33 of 39 career games and playing 2,003 snaps from scrimmage, he also had 12 tackles-for-loss (including 3.5 sacks), 24 third down stops, 12 passes broken up, five fumble recoveries and an interception. In 2008, he became just the third former walk-on in school history to lead the team in tackles (the first since Ryan Sutter in 1997), racking up 118 total (80 solo).
Smart was born November 22, 1986 in Boulder, and graduated from Boulder High School where he lettered in football and track. His hobbies include cycling, hiking and backpacking.
With the Buffs, Smart served as a quality control specialist on the defensive side of the ball in 2021 before getting elevated to assistant coach for the 2022 season. He primarily worked with the inside linebackers.
Smart joined the Colorado staff from the University of Missouri, where he was a quality control analyst for the defense for the 2020 season when the Tigers posted a 5-5 record but had their Music City Bowl date against Iowa canceled due to the COVID pandemic. He was a defensive coaching assistant for Boise State in 2019, his first full-time position in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Broncos were the Mountain West champions, defeating Hawai’i in the league’s title game and finishing 12-2 after a loss to Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl.
He served four seasons (2015-18) at the University of Pennsylvania, coaching the Quaker outside linebackers and was part of two Ivy League champion teams (tri-champs in 2015 and co-titlists in 2016). In 2016, he coached freshman Connor Jangro to All-Ivy League honors, Penn’s first freshman to earn All-Ivy distinction since 2009.
In his first season with the Quakers, Smart helped coach a defense which was second in the Ivy League and No. 8 among FCS programs in turnover margin in 2015 (+1.0), while the Red and Blue also led the league and ranked 13th nationally in sacks per game (2.9).
Smart’s outside linebackers were a big part of the championship, as they were led by Tyler Drake, the 2015 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and third-team All-American. Penn was 2-8 the year before he arrived there, but the Quaker had four winning seasons in as many years Smart was on staff, a s Columbia was 26-14 during his career there.
Prior to Penn, Smart served as Columbia University’s assistant director of strength and conditioning (July 2013 to January 2014), before being promoted to inside linebackers coach for the 2014 season. He got his start at CU, as he was the defensive graduate assistant for his college position coach, Brian Cabral. He assisted Cabral with the linebackers along with general overall duties with the defense.
Smart graduated from Colorado in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and earned his master’s of education from the school in 2013. He joined the football team as a walk-on inside linebacker in 2005, was awarded a scholarship three weeks into the 2007 season and was named a team captain as a senior, when he was coming off Second Team All-Big 12 honors his junior season (he would be named honorable mention his senior year). He won the Dave Jones Award his senior year, as his peers selected him as the most valuable defensive player in 2009.
A First Team NFF All-Colorado performer his junior and senior seasons, he finished his career ranked 18th all-time in overall tackles (291) and 13th in solo stops (188). Starting 33 of 39 career games and playing 2,003 snaps from scrimmage, he also had 12 tackles-for-loss (including 3.5 sacks), 24 third down stops, 12 passes broken up, five fumble recoveries and an interception. In 2008, he became just the third former walk-on in school history to lead the team in tackles (the first since Ryan Sutter in 1997), racking up 118 total (80 solo).
Smart was born November 22, 1986 in Boulder, and graduated from Boulder High School where he lettered in football and track. His hobbies include cycling, hiking and backpacking.