Pirates look to Smith to head up defense

From staff reports
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East Carolina is expected to announce today that former Pirates assistant coach Rick Smith will return to the program as defensive coordinator. WNCT-TV 9 sports director Brian Bailey, a Bonesville columnist, reported the development Thursday afternoon.

Smith will replace Brian Mitchell, who was informed earlier this month that his contract would not be renewed for 2013.

A 1971 Florida State grad, Smith joins head coach Ruffin McNeill's staff after spending three seasons as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach under former Pirate skipper Skip Holtz at South Florida. After his stint at ECU, Smith accompanied Holtz when Holtz departed East Carolina after the 2009 season to become head coach at USF.

Article continues after the following picture.

Rick Smith
(USF Media Relations photo)

Highly regarded in college football coaching circles, Smith has six years of experience as a defensive coordinator at the Division I-A/Football Bowl Subdivision level and 33 years as a collegiate coach, all coming on the defensive side of the ball.

Holtz was fired by USF at the end of the 2012 season, setting in motion the typical scramble to find jobs faced by coaches and their assistants when a regime change occurs.

Holtz landed on his feet when he was hired to take charge of the program at incoming C-USA member Louisiana Tech.

Smith's destination will be the familiar turf of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, where he played a part in helping the Pirates capture back-to-back Conference USA championships in 2008 and 2009 and yearly bowl berths from 2006-09.

PAGE UPDATED 01/18/13 07:22 AM.

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