Larry Dean Smith (September 12, 1939 – January 28, 2008) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Tulane University (1976–1979), the University of Arizona (1980–1986), the University of Southern California (1987–1992), and the University of Missouri (1994–2000).
In Smith's 24 seasons as a head coach, his teams were 143–126–7.
Early life
Smith was a native of Van Wert, Ohio, where he was a three-sport star at Van Wert High School, graduating in 1957.
He earned an appointment to West Point, but transferred to Bowling Green State University a year later to pursue coaching. He played two-way end for the Falcons, playing on a small-college national championship team as a sophomore in 1959; he won all-league honors as a junior and was team captain as a senior. Smith graduated from Bowling Green in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, and later earned a Master of Education from Bowling Green in 1967.
Assistant coach
Known as a defense-oriented, no-nonsense coach, Smith began coaching as an assistant with Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio for two seasons (1962–63) and then head coach the next three years (1964–66). In 1967, he joined Bo Schembechler's staff at Miami University, serving as defensive end coach for two seasons.
He moved with Schembechler to Michigan, serving as offensive line coach for four seasons (1969–72). When fellow assistant coach Jim Young (also a native of Van Wert, OH and high school football teammate) was hired as head coach at Arizona, Smith moved with him and served as the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator there for three years (1973–75).
Head coaching career
Tulane
After the departure of Bennie Ellender, Tulane hired Smith as the head coach in 1976. His first team went 2–9, then improved in 1977 to 3–8, and then 4–7 in 1978.
Smith's Green Wave team experienced a break-out year in 1979: Tulane opened the season defeating #13 Stanford and later defeated #19 SMU. In the regular season finale, Tulane defeated rival LSU, 24–13, in the Louisiana Superdome; the crowd of 73,496 remains the highest attendance to see the Green Wave play at the Superdome. Tulane ended the regular season with a 9–2 record, ranked #15 and was invited to play in the 1979 Liberty Bowl, its first bowl game in six years.
Tulane lost to Penn State, 9–6, but Smith's ability to finish the season 9–3 attracted attention and he was hired away by Arizona.
Smith's tenure with Tulane ended with a 17–27 record. Under his guidance, 10 Tulane players earned All-America honors, including two-time All-American quarterback Roch Hontas and kicker Eddie Murray, as well as offensive tackle Eric Laakso and tight end Rodney Holman. Six of his Tulane players entered the NFL.
Arizona
Smith arrived at Arizona in time for the 1980 season, the Wildcats' third season in the Pacific-10 Conference (along with rival Arizona State [ASU], they had joined the former Pacific-8 in 1978). Smith put great emphasis on in-state recruiting, built up the rivalry game with ASU, and focused the team on what he called "running and hitting". His first team went 5–6, including a 44–7 blowout loss to ASU; it would be his only losing season at Arizona. The highlight of the season was a 23-17 upset of 2nd-ranked UCLA (the Bruins were poised to become #1 as top ranked Alabama had lost earlier in the day).
The Wildcats improved to 6-5 during his second season, highlighted by a major 13–10 upset of #1 USC on the road.
Under Smith's leadership, the Wildcats became competitive in the conference, and also began dominating the rivalry with the Sun Devils. It culminated in consecutive bowl appearances: in the 1985 Sun Bowl, where a tie with Georgia gave the Wildcats an 8–3–1 record; and the 1986 Aloha Bowl, where a victory over North Carolina allowed the Wildcats to finish with a 9–3 record in his final season.
Smith's tenure with the Wildcats ended with a 48–28–3 record. Seven Arizona players earned All-America honors during his tenure, including two-time consensus All-American linebacker Ricky Hunley and All-Americans linebacker Lamonte Hunley (Ricky's younger brother), Morris Trophy-winning center Joe Tofflemire, safety Allan Durden, placekicker Max Zendejas, linebacker Byron Evans, and safety Chuck Cecil. More than 20 of Smith's Wildcat players went on to play professionally.
USC
After success at Tulane and Arizona, Smith was hired as USC's first coach without previous Trojan ties since Howard Jones in 1925.