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Ravenwood Hires Football Coach

Published January 20, 2011

Ravenwood High School Principal Dr. Pam Vaden announced the hiring of Del Smith as the school's new head football coach January 19. "We are pleased to welcome Coach Smith and his wife Ashley to the Ravenwood community," said Vaden.

Ravenwood Athletic Director Patrick Whitlock helped lead the search effort. "We are confident Coach Smith will build our program based on character, discipline and fundamentals," said Whitlock.

Before accepting the Ravenwood position, Coach Smith was head coach of The Blue Ridge School near Charlottesville, Virginia. The Blue Ridge School is an all boys, college preparatory school with grades 9 through 12.

"I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to work with the staff and administration to bring home another state championship trophy to Ravenwood," said Smith. "We have very high expectations of our student athletes and we are committed to giving them the tools they need to succeed on and off the field."

In just his second year as head coach, Smith led the Barons to their first state championship appearance in more than 15 years. The Barons finished the season as the 2009-2010 Virginia Independent Schools division II state runner up. In addition, Smith was recognized by his peers as the Virginia Independent Conference and Old Dominion Football Conference 2009-2010 Coach of the Year. The Barons had over 30 players recognized for all conference honors and five players earn first team All State under Smith's guidance.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Smith attended Benedictine High School. While there, he was a member of a state championship team in football and baseball his senior year. He attended West Virginia Wesleyan College and was a member of back to back conference championship football teams in 2002 and 2003. Coach Smith earned a degree in marketing and began his coaching career at West Virginia Weslyan College in 2004. Smith also coached at Division I FCS school Wagner College from 2006-2008, coaching linebackers and special teams.