Maryland has hired Atlanta Braves Smith Executive as a Atlético de la School, the school announced Thursday.
Maryland's pool presented mainly candidates from outside the main current of university athletics, sources told ESPN. Smith brings a combination of professional sports experience and Big Ten experience as an executive in MLB, the NFL and the MLS, as well as the time in the state of Ohio.
Smith is the senior vice president of Los Bravos commercial strategy, a work that has been carried out since 2020.
Smith has also been an executive of the Falcons of Atlanta, including periods as Marketing Director and vice president of the Office of Income and Marketing Director. He has also worked as general manager and vice president/general manager of the MLS crew of Columbus since 2000-04.
His university experience includes working at Ohio State, which gives him experience in Big Ten. His time in the state of Ohio included working in the Athletics Department as Associate Athletic Director of Marketing and Communications. He also served as president and CEO of the Association of Old Students of the State of Ohio, a role he left in 2020.
He was also president of a sports consulting company, JS Sports Properties and Consulting, who advises on marketing, leadership and maximization of income.
The combination of Smith's sports and commercial experience makes it equipped for modern university athletics. Maryland prioritized the experience with the generation of income with her candidates, since that was a consistent issue of the president of Maryland, Darryll Pins.
Like most Power Conference schools, Maryland faces income generation challenges in the new world of university athletics.
Smith will replace Damon Evans, who left Maryland for SMU in March. Maryland is in a flow moment, with Smith entering as athletic director, Buzz Williams starting his mandate as Maryland's basketball and football coach that comes from a 4-8 season.
Colleen Sorem had served as Maryland's interim athletic director and was part of the school search process. Evans had been the athletic director there since 2018 and was part of the department since 2014.
