No matter the time of year nor how many games in a season, Brad Smiley’s Northwestern State offenses set records.
Playing a six-game season in his third year back at his hometown university, Smiley’s offenses continue to rewrite Demon history.
The Demons capped an explosive six-game stretch by setting the school record with 707 yards total offense in a wild season-ending victory at Incarnate Word.
In that game, quarterback Bryce Rivers posted the second of back-to-back, 400-yard passing games, topped by a school-record 477 against the Cardinals. Rivers became the only Demon ever to surpass 400 yards passing in a game twice and was the second overall to notch a 400-yard passing game.
All three 400-yard passing games in NSU history have come with Smiley running the offense, but NSU was not a travel-by-air only unit in the 2021 spring season. Running back Scooter Adams tallied a pair of 200-yard rushing games and crossed the 100-yard mark three times in six games while his freshman running mate, Aubrey Scott, had a 119-yard debut against Nicholls.
A member of the Southland Conference championship staff as tight ends coach in 1997, Smiley’s three years as offensive coordinator have produced a boatload of school records – 24 to be exact.
The 2019 Demon offense produced NSU’s first 100-catch season and saw quarterback Shelton Eppler etch his name throughout the program’s annals.
Eppler left NSU as the owner or co-owner of 18 school records – five career, six single-game and seven single-season marks.
As a unit, Smiley’s second NSU offense established program single-season marks for passing yardage (3,616) and passing attempts (557) for the second straight season while also producing the most single-game completions (43) and attempts (62) with both coming in the season opener at UT Martin.
Shorts’ productive season earned him third-team All-American honors from STATS FCS, marking the second straight season for a Demon pass catcher to earn All-America honors. Shorts (first team) and offensive lineman Chris Zirkle (second team) earned all-conference honors while offensive lineman Jonathan Hubbard signed a free-agent contract with the Miami Dolphins.
In Smiley’s first season as offensive coordinator, the “Speed Demon” offense broke or tied 20 school records, including single-season passing yards (3,530), passing touchdowns (32), and single-game passing touchdowns (6, done twice).
The Demons’ explosive, up-tempo attack produced the 2018 Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year in All-American and All-SLC wide receiver Jazz Ferguson, who set five school records, including receiving yards (1,117), touchdown catches (13), and 100-yard receiving games (6). Also breaking into the record books was Eppler, who broke six season and game records, including passing yards per game (293.2), passing efficiency (148.32), consecutive passes without an interception (143), and passing touchdowns in a game (6, twice).
Smiley’s offense produced head-turning numbers that placed it in the top five nationally in the Football Championship Subdivision in passing offense, passing yards and passing touchdowns. The Demons also ranked in the top third of the FCS in total offense, turnover margin and completion percentage. Within the Southland Conference, the Demons ranked in the top four of the conference in nine different offensive categories: passing touchdowns, passing offense, passing efficiency, turnovers lost, turnover margin, 4th-down conversions, sacks allowed, and total plays.
Prior to NSU, Smiley built the Trinity Valley Community College football team into one of the country’s most dominant programs while steering a record-shattering offense. He was named the 2014 National Junior College Coach of the Year by American Football Monthly magazine and has three conference coach of the year honors. Smiley took over a TVCC program than won only two games in its previous season and finished winning five straight conference championships (2013-2017) and three regional championships (2013, 2014 and 2016). He also spent his final six seasons at TVCC in the role of director of athletics. In his five final seasons in Athens, TX from 2013 to 2017, Smiley’s Cardinals posted a 49-9 record and spent 64 consecutive weeks ranked in the National Junior College Athletic Association Top 20, including being ranked in the top 10 for 22 straight weeks. He is the only coach in conference history to win five straight league championships.
The Cardinals held a top-10 national ranking in total offense in nine of Smiley’s 11 seasons and their prolific offense led the nation in total touchdowns and scoring offense for three straight seasons (2014-16). During his tenure at TVCC, the offense set eight NJCAA national records including: Yards Per Game (656.1 in 2015) and Yards in a Season (7,778 in 2014).
In 2015, the Cardinals’ offensive numbers led all of college football regardless of level.
In his final seven seasons at Trinity Valley, Smiley recruited, coached and developed more Division I (FBS and FCS) players than any other junior college in the country. Twelve of his quarterbacks signed Division I scholarships, with one reaching the NFL. Eleven of his former players have gone on to play in the NFL.
Smiley holds a master’s degree in sport administration from NSU, with a bachelor’s in marketing from Baylor. His wife, the former Janna Clary, is also a Natchitoches native. His father, the late Dr. Barry Smiley, was the Dean of Business at NSU for 11 years.
His mother, the late Shirley Pittman Smiley, also has strong ties to the Demons. She was an NSU nursing graduate along with eight of her sisters. His maternal grandmother, Clotile Pittman, was awarded the prestigious Nth Degree after eight of her daughters graduated from the university. Ten of her 12 daughters attended the university.
From 2000 to 2006, Smiley was on the football coaching staff at Tulane University, in New Orleans, in various positions. He was the Green Wave’s recruiting coordinator for five seasons, while coaching tight ends and assisting with the offensive line. He was part of an offensive staff that produced Tulane’s career passing leader (former 1st round NFL draft pick Patrick Ramsey), top two rushers (former NFL running backs Matt Forte and Mewelde Moore), and scoring leader (Lou Groza Award-winning kicker Seth Marler). Smiley and Janna have two children, Ben (18) and Clary (16).
