Matthew P. Smith MS, ATC, now enters year 11 as the head athletic trainer at Capital University. Over the course of his career, he has accumulated more than 20 years of collegiate experience from the Division I and III levels.
Smith not only keep Capital student-athletes healthy and restores them when less than 100 percent, but he had also stepped up to be one of the conference and campus leaders during the ongoing health pandemic. He has been integral to forming and implementing policies that will help Cap students and student-athletes safe and lessen the threat of COVID-19.
Prior to joining Capital, Smith served as assistant director of sports medicine and director of baseball operations at The Citadel (S.C.), an NCAA Division I institution.
As an assistant athletic trainer, Smith was responsible for the coverage of the baseball and football teams and ran The Citadel Infirmary’s Sports Medicine Sick Call Clinic, where he evaluated, referred and placed cadets on military restrictions for all injuries that occur to the Corp of Cadets. Aside from his athletic training duties, Smith coordinated all aspects of the baseball team’s travel, including budget, transportation, meals, lodging and itineraries.
Prior to The Citadel, Smith was an assistant athletic trainer at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., for two years (2007-09). While at Army, covered the football and baseball teams and assisted with ordering of supplies.
Smith began his career as a resident athletic trainer at The Citadel from 2005-07, covering the football and wrestling teams during that span. He also coordinated travel for the wrestling team and provided athletic training services for the rugby, lacrosse and ice hockey club teams.
A member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) since 2006, Smith earned his bachelor’s in exercise science with a concentration in athletic training from the University of Toledo in 2005. The Mentor, Ohio native earned a master’s in health, exercise and sports sciences from The Citadel in 2007.
Smith and his wife, Michelle, reside in Columbus with their sons, Crosby and Hayden.
