⚽ KU Soccer Adds Smith as Volunteer Assistant

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Travis Smith will be joining the Kansas soccer staff as a volunteer assistant for the 2021 season head coach Mark Francis announced Thursday. Smith brings an array of coaching and training experience stretching through the collegiate, club and high school ranks. He is coming off a four-year stint as the head soccer coach at Brandeis High School.

"We are extremely excited to add a coach of Travis’s quality and experience to our staff. He is a licensed coach who has been around some quality college programs and has a lot of experience on the field at the high school level. He will be a great addition and will help us as we strive to progress the program beyond the success we have experienced the last 4-5 years."

Mark Francis, Head Coach

Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Smith comes to Kansas after spending the past four seasons as the head soccer coach at Brandeis High School in San Antonio. While at the helm of the program, Smith coaches three All-State First Team selections and seven All-Region honorees. He also guided a student-athlete to being named the 2018 San Antonio Express News Newcomer of the Year after the team won the district in 2018. During the 2020 season, Smith guided Brandeis to a final ranking of ninth in the Texas state rankings.

Smith joins the Jayhawk soccer staff after spending time on other collegiate programs that included: St. Mary’s University, the University of Oregon and the University of Texas. He has also served as the head coach for East Central High School, as assistant at O’Connor High School and was a Classics Elite Soccer Academy Junior Academy-ECNL Trainer from July 2014-May 2020.

Smith has a United States Soccer Federation “B” License and a United Soccer Coaches Goalkeeping Level 2 license. He was also a speaker at the 2020 Texas Association of Soccer Coaches for “Training Your Game Model.”

“I am elated to be joining the KU staff and have the opportunity to learn from coaches who have sustained success for so many years. When you combine the unparalleled tenure of Coach Francis and Coach Miller with the international experience of Coach Jackson, the KU staff is truly second to none.”

Smith graduated from the University of Texas in 2013 with a bachelor of science in kinesiology, exercise science with a minor in biology. He earned a Masters of Education in educational technology and leadership from Lamar University in May 2021.

Smith currently resides in Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas Jayhawks