Who Will Be Our New Offensive Coordinator, Now?

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Sherman Smith

Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs

Former Seattle Seahawks running back Sherman Smith is in his 13th year as the Titans' running backs coach and his second year with the Assistant Head Coach title.

This year, Smith will be counted on to direct a young group of talented runners to become dependable cogs for the offense. Second-year running back LenDale White and rookie Chris Henry will compete for carries this fall and each will be counted upon to carry part of the rushing load for the Titans this season. This will not be the first time the organization has called upon Smith to mold a talented rusher. Eddie George came to the Oilers as a Heisman Trophy winner, started his first game with the team and ended his tenure as the organization’s all-time leading rusher.

Last season Smith’s group of runners helped amass the sixth-highest rushing total in team history and fifth in the NFL for 2006, as the Titans gained 2,214 yards on the ground. The yards per carry for the season (4.72) established a new franchise mark, besting the previous high of 4.61 yards per carry set in 1992. Travis Henry accounted for the majority of the yards with 1,211 and LenDale White added another 244 yards in his rookie campaign.

Between 1996 and 2003, Smith helped Eddie George evolve into one of the all-time great running backs in NFL history and the all-time leading rusher in Titans/Oilers history. In 2003, George became only the 17th running back in NFL history to reach 10,000 career-rushing yards and only the second to reach the mark without missing a game (Jim Brown). His rushing total of 10,009 yards in his first eight NFL seasons ranked seventh on the NFL's all-time list behind Eric Dickerson, Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Jim Brown and Curtis Martin. In his tenure with the team (1995-2006), the Titans rank ninth in the NFL in rushing over that time period and have produced nine 1,000 rushers.

A former standout during his collegiate career at Miami (Ohio) University, Smith coached the running backs at his alma mater for two seasons (1990-91) before moving to Illinois. With the Illini, Smith served as tight ends coach from 1992-93 and added running backs coach to his title in 1994.

After joining the Seahawks as a second-round draft choice in 1976, Smith went on to play nine years in the NFL. Smith led a fledgling Seahawk team in rushing in each of his first four seasons, finishing his Seattle tenure with 3,429 yards and 28 touchdowns on 810 attempts, as well as 210 receptions for 2,445 yards with 10 touchdowns. Smith left Seattle among the all-time rushers in Seahawks history before closing out his NFL playing career with the San Diego Chargers from 1983-84.

As a quarterback at Miami (Ohio), Smith led the Redhawks to the Mid-American Conference crown in his final three seasons while compiling a 33-1-1 record.

In 1985, Smith began teaching in the Northwest where he coached (basketball and track) and taught at Redmond Junior High and coached football at Redmond High School before returning to the college level as a coach in 1990.

A native of Youngstown, Ohio (11/1/54), he and his wife, Sharon, have two grown children: daughter, Shavonne, who is an elementary school teacher in Nashville, and a son, Sherman, who graduated with an engineering degree from Miami (Ohio) and currently works in Rockford, Ill.

Sherman Smith Coaching Ledger

2006-07: Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs, Tennessee Titans
1995-05: Running Backs, Tennessee Titans
1994: Tight Ends/Running Backs, University of Illinois
1992-93: Tight Ends, University of Illinois
1990-91: Running Backs, Miami (Ohio) University
1985-89: Assistant Coach, Redmond H.S., Redmond, WA