1. He's a Florida native.
Smith grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida and attended Father Lopez Catholic High School. In order to attend, Smith, one of eight children, was required to pay for half of his tuition, according to a report by ESPN. He went on to earn All-State honors as a linebacker before enrolling at East Tennessee State.
2. Coaching runs in the family.
Like Buccaneers Head Coach Dirk Koetter, Smith is the son of a football coach. Smith is also the brother-in-law of Brian Billick, who led the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory as their head coach. Billick gave Smith his first NFL coaching job when he hired him to work as Baltimore's assistant defensive line coach, under Rex Ryan, in 1999. Smith spent three seasons with the Ravens and was a part of their championship team.
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- His defenses routinely rank in the NFL's top ten.**
During Smith's five seasons as the Jaguars' defensive coordinator, his unit finished in the league's top ten three times in terms of total yards allowed. In 2006, he led a Jacksonville defense that finished No. 2 in the league in yards allowed and No. 4 in points allowed. Smith's defenses never finished worse than No. 12 in the league.
4. He's successful at stopping the run.
Smith's defenses have been historically better at stopping the run than stopping the pass, though he's fared well against both. In his time as a defensive coordinator, his teams have been ranked No. 8 against the run and No. 15 against the pass on average. On two different occasions Smith has led defenses that finished in the top five in the league in rush yards allowed in a single season.
5. He wrote a book during his year off of football.
Smith spent the 2015 out of football. During his down time, he penned the book "You Win in the Locker Room First." Smith's book, co-written by Jon Gordon, has been reviewed 161 times on Amazon. Of the reviews given 98 percent of readers rated the book with five stars, Amazon's maximum. The remaining two percent of reviewers rated Smith's book with four stars.
