Brandon Smith will serve as the program’s director of player personnel in his first season with the Miners in 2026.
Before coming to UTEP, Smith had two stints at Southeastern Oklahoma State, where he served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2023 to 2025. Smith originally joined the Southeastern coaching staff before the 2018 season and directed the Savage Storm linebackers while heading up the program’s junior college recruiting efforts. Smith was the linebackers coach at Arkansas Tech from 2019 to 2022 before returning to SE.
In his first season as defensive coordinator, SE ranked fifth in scoring in the GAC and fourth in rushing defense. Smith’s 2023 squad was led by All-GAC honoree Cam Tate, who racked up 69 tackles, while Kevin Simes was fifth in the league with 8.0 sacks.
Before his first stop at SE, Smith spent a season as a pro scout with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.
From 2013 through 2016, Smith was an assistant at East Texas Baptist, working across the defensive backfield. His first two seasons there, Smith handled the cornerbacks, guiding Dominique Bailey to a pair of first team all-conference honors and the school record for career interceptions. In 2015, he mentored the safeties with a first team all-conference selection before taking over as the defensive coordinator and linebacker coach in 2016. That season, seven players would earn all-conference honors, including both his inside linebacker.
Smith started his coaching career as a graduate assistant with West Texas A&M from 2010 through 2012, where he handled the outside linebackers.
Smith, a native of Crane, Texas, earned a B.S. in Sports Fitness Management from Midwestern State and added an M.S. in Sports Administration from West Texas A&M.
