Bubba Smith is in his fourth season as head basketball coach and his seventh season overall with the Tiger basketball program in 2006-07.  In 2003, Smith took over the reigns of the national powerhouse Tiger basketball program after spending three successful years assisting the College’s all-time winningest coach Tony Shaver, who left after 17 years to become the head coach at the College of William and Mary.   In Smith’s inaugural season, he became the first-ever Tiger rookie coach to lead his team to a No. 1 national ranking and an ODAC Championship as the Tigers finished with a 25-5 overall record.  In Smith’s second season, he led a squad that featured 11 freshmen and sophomores to 17 victories and the ODAC semifinals, and in his third season he led the team to 18 wins and back into the national rankings while the squad recorded a top-three finish in the always-tough Old Dominion Athletic Conference.  Overall, his 79 wins is the most-ever for a Tiger basketball coach through his first four seasons, while his .699 career winning percentage is second in the Hampden-Sydney record books. 

2006-07 (19-11):  With high expectations heading into the season, Smith's Tigers experienced several trials and tribulations to begin the 2006-2007 season.  The Tigers lost two players during a winter trip to Aruba, making the Tigers midseason stretch very difficult.  Despite the difficult task at hand, Smith was confident in his team, guiding them to an impressive 82-53 victory over Randolph-Macon in the regular-season finale.  The Tigers carried that momentum into the ODAC Tournament as Hampden-Sydney scored victories over Emory and Henry, Virginia Wesleyan, and Roanoke to capture the 2007 ODAC Title.  The Championship was the school's tenth and Smith's second. 

2005-06 (18-8):  Smith guided his team to an impressive opening as the squad won its first 11 contests of the year and moved up the national rankings to as high as number 11 according to the D3hoops.com top-25 national poll.  The team battled through a difficult midseason stretch in which it lost six of eight games and suffered through injuries to key players, but Smith helped the team rebound to a strong finish in which the Tigers won five of their last seven games.  The team once-again made a strong showing in the ODAC Tournament, reaching the semifinals for the third consecutive season under Smith. 

2004-05 (17-10):  The 2004-05 season was a challenging one for Smith and his Tigers as the team was forced to replace five starters after the departure of one of the most-talented and winningest classes in Tiger basketball history.  The squad struggled out of the gates, falling to 6-7 at the midway point in the season.  However, after the seventh loss of the year, Smith rallied his troops to an eight-game winning streak that was catapulted by a victory over nationally-ranked Virginia Wesleyan.  Overall, the team resurrected its season by winning 11 of its final 14 games en route to making an ODAC semifinal appearance and finishing with 17 wins, securing its mantel as the winningest college basketball team in the Commonwealth over the last 13 years. 

2003-04 (25-5): The 2003-2004 season proved to be a successful inaugural campaign for Smith, who became the first Hampden-Sydney basketball coach to ever lead his team to a conference title, No. 1 national ranking, and NCAA Tournament in his first season.  Smith guided the Tigers to a 25-5 record and claimed the program’s ninth Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship with a 75-69 victory over Virginia Wesleyan in Salem, VA, in the conference title game.  Midway through the 2003-2004 season, Smith’s Tigers vaulted to the No. 1 ranking in the D3hoops.com top-25 poll, giving the team its highest ranking since the 1999-2000 season.  At year’s end, Smith’s troops made an impressive showing in the NCAA Tournament, picking up the program’s 18th win all-time in tournament play with a 74-71 victory over Elizabethtown.  

Under Smith’s direction in 2003-2004, the Tigers rose to No. 1 in the D3hoops.com national rankings after the team opened the season with 11 straight victories.  Among other highlights on the year, Smith led his Tigers to wins over two top-25 programs, including a dramatic come-from-behind victory over 24th-ranked Virginia Wesleyan (72-67) as the Tigers erased a 16 point second-half deficit to steal the victory from the Marlins midway through the season.  Smith’s Tigers then scored a 71-68 victory over second-ranked Randolph-Macon in the final home game of the 2004 regular season.  The victory proved to be crucial as the team used that momentum to carry it through three straight victories in the ODAC Tournament as Smith became the first Tiger coach to ever win a conference title in his first season as his Tigers closed out the tourney with another dramatic, come-from-behind, victory over Virginia Wesleyan.   

Smith, who was a four-year letterwinner as a point guard for Furman University from 1995 through 1999, took over as the 17th basketball coach in the 95-year history of Hampden-Sydney basketball. During his three years as an assistant coach, Smith assisted Tony Shaver as the duo led the Tigers to 75 wins, two ODAC titles and an appearance in the 2003 NCAA Division III Final Four.  

Smith and his wife, Cortney, have one son, Isaac (5), and two daughters Mary Brittain (3) and Emma (three months).  The Smith’s reside in Farmville, VA.