Stanford head coach Kyle Smith has Family in NC, and a Improved Cardinal Team for 2025-26

Kyle Smith was announced as the Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men's Basketball on March 25, 2024, and begins his second season at Stanford in 2025-26.In its first season in the ACC, and the first under Smith, the Cardinal finished the 2024-25 season at 21-14 overall, marking its most total victories since 2014-15 while matching a program record with 17 wins at Maples Pavilion. Stanford went 9-1 at home in the ACC, while Smith is just the second coach in program history to win 20 or more games in his first season. Additionally, the seven-win improvement year-to-year matches a program record for a first-year head coach. Smith saw numerous players have career-best seasons, led by All-American and ACC first team honoree and Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Maxime Raynaud.Smith landed at The Farm following a successful five-year stint at Washington State, where he went 94-71 overall, including a 25-10 mark and second-place finish in the Pac-12 in 2023-24. Smith holds a 279-207 career record across 15 seasons as a head coach, including six seasons at Columbia and three at San Francisco. Additionally, he spent 18 years as an assistant coach with stretches at Saint Mary’s (2001-10), Air Force (2000-01) and San Diego (1992-2000).The 2024 John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Smith led the Cougars to a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the round of 32 with a victory over Drake in the opening round, while the postseason event was the seventh for Smith as a head coach and third with Washington State. The Cougars also reached the NIT semifinals in 2022 and earned a bid for a second consecutive season in 2023.Smith was the first coach in Washington State history to post a .500 or better record in each of his first four seasons, doing so after taking over a program that was under .500 in each of the previous seven campaigns.A talented coach known for expertise in analytics and player development, Smith’s tutelage has included three NBA Draft selections in CJ Elleby (2020), Mouhamed Gueye (2023) and Jaylen Wells (2024), as well as Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Myles Rice (2024), while three Cougars earned All-Pac-12 recognition in 2024. Smith also coached San Francisco’s Jamaree Bouyea, who made his NBA debut in 2023, and mentored a series of professional athletes as an assistant coach, including NBA players Matthew Dellavedova and Patty Mills at Saint Mary’s.Smith has also seen success on the recruiting trail, landing two top-60 classes, the highest for Washington State in over a decade. He signed a top-100 prospect to Pullman in the class of 2022, the first for the program since Klay Thompson in 2008.