Bill Smith
| Title: | Director of Athletics |
| Phone Number: | 401-232-6078 |
| Email Address: | bsmith8@bryant.edu |
| Fax: | 401-319-3078 |
| At Bryant Since: | April 10, 2006 |
Now in his fifth year as the Director of Athletics at Bryant University, Bill Smith is the leader of one of the most successful athletics departments in the Northeast. During the past two years, Smith has prepared the department for a new era in Bryant Athletics and continues to guide the Bulldog program as the department makes its move to Division I, a process that began in 2008-09.
A former Senior Associate Athletics Director for Sport Administration at Iowa State, Smith was named Athletic Director at Bryant on April 10, 2006.
Since arriving at Bryant University in the spring of 2006, the Bulldogs won two Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup trophies while garnering eight regular-season and five conference tournament championships. A total of 17 teams have participated in the NCAA Championships during his tenure, including a Bulldog football program that qualified back-to-back in 2006 and 2007 and men’s lacrosse program that earned a Final Four finish. Under Smith's guidance, Bryant's student-athletes posted the highest-ever semester GPA in the fall of 2008 with 215 student-athletes exceeding a 3.0 and 33 percent earning Dean's List honors. The 2007-08 year ended with Bryant earning a place among the top schools in the nation with a final ranking of 17 in the NACDA Director's Cup standings. In 2008-09, Bryant not only started its transition to Division I, but gained full membership into the Northeast Conference as well.
Prior to arriving at Bryant, Smith spent eight years at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He joined the Cyclones as compliance director in 1998 before he was promoted to associate athletics director in 2002 and senior associate athletics director in 2005.
At Iowa State, Smith managed oversight responsibilities for facilities, event management, licensing, compliance, academic services, sports medicine, athletic training and strength and conditioning. During his tenure, ISU completed a $10 million dollar indoor training facility, a $1 million dollar renovation of Jack Trice Stadium, installed a $170,000 permanent lighting system at the Soccer Complex, increased licensing revenue by partnering with LRG and achieved an 89 percent graduation rate for student-athletes who exhausted eligibility. Smith served on the University Steering Committee for NCAA second cycle certification in 2003 whereby ISU achieved second cycle certification without conditions. Iowa State's football program was selected to participate in bowl games four out of five years. Gymnastics, wrestling, football, women's indoor track, men's and women's basketball all ranked in the Top 20 nationally while wrestling finished No. 2 in the country in 2002 and No. 6 in 2004.
Prior to joining the Iowa State staff, Smith served as executive associate director for compliance and championships at the Patriot League for one year. In that role, he managed 19 conference championships, was the conference's primary liaison with all coaches groups, and directed league-wide compliance education programs.
A native of Auburn, N.Y., Smith graduated from Colgate University in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in political science. During his time at Colgate, Smith played both football and lacrosse from 1985 to 1989. He was awarded the Tom Dodge Award in 1989 for exemplifying outstanding effort, determination and performance.
Smith earned his law degree from Quinnipiac College of Law in 1995 and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1996. Smith and his wife Maura have four children: Molly, Liam, Daniel and Marin.
