SMITH ACCUMULATES 100 WINS OVER FOUR DIFFERENT LEAGUES SINCE 2008
NASHVILLE – Nashville Soccer Club head coach Gary Smith reached his 100th career win in spectacular fashion last night with a 4-0 victory over Hartford Athletic. A four-match hot streak helped to boost him over the milestone mark this month.
Smith and the team have earned shutout victories over Indy Eleven, Memphis 901 FC, Swope Park Rangers and now Hartford Athletic, making it the first streak of its kind in club history. Smith has added 28 wins for Nashville SC to his resume since March 2018, including the club’s first-ever league victory on March 31, 2018 in a 1-0 win over Bethlehem Steel FC at Goodman Stadium. His prolific coaching career has been eleven years in the making across four different leagues.
“I’m really pleased,” Smith said. “I was reminded that I think it was over 240 games that I’ve been in charge of at different levels and different countries. I’m delighted that I’ve reached that landmark. My only hope is I’m around long enough, certainly in a job and a team like this, a great club, where I can get another 100 under my belt.”
His coaching career began in 2008 with Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids. During the season, he served as the team’s assistant coach before being promoted to interim head coach when Fernando Clavijo parted ways with the club. Smith’s first-ever win came in his first match: a 2-1 victory over Kansas City on August 16. He coached the remaining 10 matches, rounding out the team’s final stretch with a 5W-4L-2D record. His four-year career with the Rapids ended with 45 total wins across regular season, U.S. Open Cup, MLS playoffs and CONCACAF Champions League play. Most notably, Smith led the Rapids to the MLS Cup final where they defeated FC Dallas 2-1 on November 21, 2010 in Toronto to win the club’s first MLS Cup title.
Before joining Nashville SC as its inaugural head coach, Smith spent time with Stevenage FC of then-English Football League One from 2012-2013 and with NASL’s Atlanta Silverbacks in 2015.
On March 6, 2019, Nashville SC announced that Smith had been named the franchise’s first MLS head coach and will transition with the club to MLS in 2020. However, Smith will first look to add to his win column in the home-match heavy remainder of Nashville SC’s USL Championship campaign.
