Smith Named Director of the Duke Football Future Initiative

DURHAM – Duke Athletics announced Wednesday that Terrell Smith has rejoined the department as the Director of the Duke Football Future Initiative.

Smith, a former All-ACC safety for the Blue Devils before graduating in 2004, returns to Duke after serving the past three years as the recruiting coordinator with the football program at Penn State University, where he helped the Nittany Lions secure the nation's top-ranked recruiting class for 2022 according to ESPN.com and 247Sports.com.

In his position, Smith will be responsible for providing resources to better prepare Duke football student-athletes for their post-graduation journey by enriching the necessary skills for success during their time at Duke and beyond. The four critical areas of impact are knowledge, skills, networking, and confidence.

Smith will connect with former student-athletes across multiple decades to re-establish and reinforce their engagement with Duke football and leverage their experience as a professional development resource for current student-athletes. He also will oversee the coordination of professional development programming for current Duke football student-athletes that utilizes preexisting resources throughout Duke University.

Prior to his time with the Nittany Lions, Smith spent three years (2016-18) as the assistant athletic director of football operations at East Carolina University. He served as the chief of staff and oversaw the day-to-day operation of the Pirate football program. Smith served as the direct liaison to the Chancellor, Board of Trustees, and other external stakeholders in addition to student affairs support services.

As a four-year letterman (2000-03) with the Blue Devils, Smith played in 40 career games and amassed 321 tackles and three interceptions. In 2003, he served as a team captain while earning All-ACC honors after leading the squad in tackles with 140, a total which currently ranks tied for 10th on the school's single-season chart. Among Smith's highlights during his senior season was a career-high 22-tackle performance in Duke's 27-24 overtime victory over Rice.

Smith graduated from Duke in 2004 with a degree in political science. Following graduation, he spent one season on the football coaching staff at Lenoir-Rhyne College before returning to his alma mater in 2005 as a graduate assistant coach. Smith later served as Duke's assistant director of player development (2006), director of player development (2007) and assistant director of football relations (2008-10).

After stints at Oklahoma State as an assistant director of football recruiting (2011-12) and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts as an assistant director of admission for multicultural recruitment (2013-14), Smith returned to Duke in 2015 as the director of football operations.

Smith also earned a master's degree in humanities from the Duke in 2006.

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Smith Named Director of the Duke Football Future Initiative

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