Seitu Smith joined the Yale staff as running backs coach in February of 2021 and was promoted to Assistant Head Coach/Run Game Coordinator in March of 2023.
In 2022, Smith mentored two of the top running backs in the Ivy League in Joshua Pitsenberger and Tre Peterson, who combined to rush for 1,391 yards. Pitsenberger was named the league’s rookie of the year and a first team All-Ivy selection, while Peterson earned honorable mention recognition. Yale led the league in rushing at 232.8 yards per game, which was ninth in the nation, and captured an outright Ivy League championship.
Smith came to New Haven from the Cleveland Browns where he served as an offensive quality control coach during the 2020 season.
Smith got his start coaching at Durham University in England while working on his master's degree. When he returned to the U.S., Smith spent a year coaching running backs and linebackers while teaching math at J.P. Taravella High School in Florida before landing a director of player personnel position at Dartmouth in 2018. There, Smith worked alongside Browns Chief of Staff Callie Brownson before heading to Brown University, where he was a quarterbacks coach in 2019.
Smith was a wide receiver and return specialist at Harvard where he graduated in 2015. He finished fourth in school history with a 9.6 career yards per punt return average and fifth with an average of 19.9 yards per kick return. He caught 84 passes for 939 yards and seven touchdowns while adding 304 yards and two scores on the ground over the course of his career.
