Dave Smart
Dave Smart (born August 14, 1966)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: Pacific Tigers
Current conference: West Coast Conference (WCC)
Pacific record: 0-0 (.000)
Overall record^: 0-0 (.000)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- WCC Regular Season Champion: 0
- WCC Tournament Champion: 0
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2024-present | Pacific |
| 2023-2024 | Texas Tech (asst) |
| 2016-2019 | Carleton |
| 1999-2015 | Carleton |
| 1997-1999 | Carleton (asst) |
Dave Smart Facts
- Dave Smart
- Born August 14, 1966
- Hometown: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Alma Mater: Queen’s University at Kingston (1994)
- The Ontario-native played basketball for three seasons as Queen’s University, where he set several national and school scoring records
- Initially coached at the high school and club levels before getting a job as an assistant at Carleton College in 1997 under Paul Armstrong
- Spent nineteen total seasons (1999-2015, 2016-19) as head coach at Carleton, building an unequaled powerhouse in Canadian college basketball
- Led the Ravens to an overall record of 591-48 and won thirteen national championships as head coach
- Took a sabbatical during the 2015-16 season and the Ravens, led by his nephew Rob Smart, won another national title
- Smart was named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Coach of the Year thirteen times and was awarded the Stuart W. Aberdeen Memorial Trophy as the National Coach of the Year nine times
- Stepped away from coaching in 2019 but continued to worked at the school as Director of Basketball Operations, overseeing yet another national championship during the 2019-20 season
- In addition to his duties at Carleton, Smart coached the Great Britain U20 national team in 2012 and then Canada’s U18 team at the 2018 FIBA Championships (runner-up finish to Team USA)
- Over the years, Carleton played dozens of American colleges taking offseason foreign trips and scored victories of a number of them
- Smart also consulted with the Ottawa Senators of the NHL in 2019-20 and spent one year as General Manager of the Ottawa Blackjacks, a new professional basketball team in the CEBL (Canada’s top league)
- Got his first job in American college basketball in 2023, spending the season working for new Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland
- In March 2024, Smart was hired to be the new head coach of the Pacific Tigers in the WCC
Dave Smart Coaching Tree
- Taffe Charles (Carleton)
- Rob Smart (Carleton)
^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only
