Byron Smith (basketball)

Byron Smith (born September 26, 1969) is an American college basketball coach, currently head coach at Prairie View A&M.^[1][2]

Byron Smith

Smith with Prairie View A&M in 2020
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Prairie View A&M
Conference	SWAC
Record	128–161 (.443)
Biographical details
Born	(1969-09-26) September 26, 1969 (age 55) Bossier City, Louisiana, U.S.
Playing career
1987–1988	Northwestern State
1988–1989	Tyler JC
1989–1991	Houston
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1998–2000	Houston (assistant)
2000–2001	Texas Southern (assistant)
2001–2002	McLennan CC (assistant)
2002–2003	Harlem Globetrotters
2007–2009	Texas A&M (assistant)
2009–2010	Texas Southern (assistant)
2013–2016	Prairie View A&M (assistant)
2016–present	Prairie View A&M
Head coaching record
Overall	128–161 (.443)
Tournaments	0–1 (NCAA Division I)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
SWAC tournament (2019) 3 SWAC regular season (2019–2021)
Awards
Hugh Durham Award (2021) 3× SWAC Coach of the Year (2019–2021)

Playing career

Smith started off his college career at Northwestern State for one season before transferring to Tyler Junior College, then completing his collegiate career at Houston under Pat Foster, where he was a two-time All-Southwest Conference selection.

After graduation, Smith played professionally in Australia, Turkey, and Greece.

Coaching career

Smith returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach under Clyde Drexler from 1998 to 2000, before joining the staff at Texas Southern for one season. After a one-year assistant coaching stop at McLennan Community College, Smith became the head coach of the Harlem Globetrotters from 2002 to 2003. After his time with the Globetrotters, Smith coached AAU basketball and ran basketball skills camps in the Houston area.

In 2007, Smith returned to the collegiate coaching ranks joining Mark Turgeon's staff at Texas A&M for two seasons, followed by another one-year stint at Texas Southern.^[3] He was named an assistant coach at Prairie View A&M under Byron Rimm II. When Rimm resigned on January 26, 2016, Smith was elevated to the interim head coaching position, and subsequently was named the permanent head coach at the conclusion of the season.^[4]

Head coaching record

NCAA DI

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Prairie View A&M Panthers (Southwestern Athletic Conference) (2016–present)
2015–16	Prairie View A&M	6–6‡	6–5	6th
2016–17	Prairie View A&M	13–20	10–8	T–3rd
2017–18	Prairie View A&M	16–18	12–6	T–2nd
2018–19	Prairie View A&M	22–13	17–1	1st	NCAA Division I First Four
2019–20	Prairie View A&M	19–13	14–4	1st	No postseason held
2020–21	Prairie View A&M	16–5	13–0	T–1st
2021–22	Prairie View A&M	8–19	8–10	8th
2022–23	Prairie View A&M	13–19	9–9	6th
2023–24	Prairie View A&M	10–21	5–13	10th
2024–25	Prairie View A&M	5–27	4–14	10th
Prairie View A&M:		128–161 (.443)	98–70 (.583)	‡ Rimm II resigned 1/26/16; Smith coached rest of season.
Total:		128–161 (.443)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion