Former Women's Premier League player and Division I head coach Kerry Smith joined the UC Riverside coaching staff in March of 2018.
Smith came to Riverside following a stint serving at Shattuck-St. Mary’s and the US Soccer Development Academy in Minnesota, where she worked with the goalkeepers and helped develop a member of the U.S. youth national pool. Prior to that, she spent four years as the head coach at Washington College. Washington set a number of school records under her guidance from 2014-17, including allowing the fewest goals in a season and finishing with the best non-conference record in program history the following year.
Smith served as an assistant at Temple for the 2013 season, helping the program achieve one of it’s more successful seasons in the American Athletic Conference in recent history. She was instrumental in the Owls' 4-0 start to the season, as well as the program's 70 percent increase in scoring from 2012.
Smith also contributed to the programs at Jacksonville State (JSU), University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)Â and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) as an assistant coach. As a JSU graduate assistant for the 2011 season, Smith helped triple the Gamecocks' scoring output from the previous season. The following year, she helped JSU go 10-8-2 for the program's first winning season in nine years.
At UMBC, she recruited one of the program’s strongest incoming class in history, which included two American East Conference All-Freshman Team selections. During her time, Smith also increased defensive productivity and fewer goals by nearly 50 percent.
As an assistant coach at VMI, Smith helped the Keydets have their most successful season in program history while doubling their wins from 2007 to 2008. Smith helped VMI to its lowest goals against average and most shutouts in program history. She also recruited and coached the Virginia State Rookie of the Year, the Big South’s leading goal-scorer and the Big South Freshman of the Year.
Smith boasts a proven track record with her student-athletes off the field. In 2016, her roster at Washington College finished with the fifth highest grade-point average among the nation's collegiate women's soccer teams. Her teams at JSU, UMBC, and VMI were consistently ranked near the top of their respective conferences in GPA, as all three programs earned NSCAA Academic Team Awards during her time there.
Smith's coaching experience also includes time at the club and Olympic Development Program (ODP) levels with Plantation Eagles Soccer Club in Florida, Freestate Soccer Alliance in Maryland, Fusion Soccer Club in Alabama and the Alabama Olympic Development Program.
Originally from Leeds, England, Smith was a four-year letterwinner at Nova Southeastern University and has played for the Leeds United Ladies, the Doncaster Belles of the Women's Premier League and with the Miami Kickers of the Women's Professional Soccer League.
Smith earned a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from Nova Southeastern in 2006 and completed an M.S. in Emergency Management at Jacksonville State. She holds an NSCAA Advanced National Coaching License and an NSCAA National Goalkeeper License. She is also a 2009 graduate of the NCAA Women's Coaches Academy.
