position Assistant Coach
Brad Smith came back to Ohio State as the assistant men’s golf coach during the summer of 2015, joining head coach Jay Moseley’s staff. Smith is no stranger to Buckeye Golf, donning the Scarlet & Gray as a student-athlete and earning All-Big Ten honors in 2011. He also served as the program’s volunteer assistant coach during the 2012-13 campaign as well.
Smith and the Buckeyes advanced to the NCAA Regionals in 2017 after Ohio State registered its highest finish at the Big Ten Championships in 13 years. Smith mentored sophomore Will Grimmer to a runner-up performance at the conference championships. That individual performance also marked the best B1G effort from a Buckeye since 2004. Grimmer was joined by fellow Cincinnatian sophomore and Moseley apprentice, Daniel Wetterich, as GCAA All-Midwest Region Team members.
Under Smith’s watchful eye, senior Tee-k Kelly captured individual medalist honors at the NCAA Kohler Regional, the first Buckeye in school history to win an NCAA Regional individual title. Smith aided Grimmer in his stellar freshman campaign as well, joining Kelly at the NCAA Kohler Regional and earning All-Midwest Region accolades.
Kelly took it one step further receiving All-America Honorable Mention after advancing to the NCAA Championships. Kelly is the first Buckeye to garner All-America recognition since Smith’s former teammate, Bo Hoag, did so in 2009.
In 2017-18, Smith helped lead the Buckeyes to a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championship while Daniel Wetterich received second team All-Big Ten accolades as well as PING All-Region honors.
The 2018-19 season was one of the best for Smith and the Buckeyes. The team notched seven top-5 finishes, won the Musketeer Classic as well as the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate for the 24th time. The Buckeyes also claimed the Big Ten Match Play Championship for the first time in school history, defeating Illinois in the semifinals and then blitzing Maryland 4.5 to 1.5 in the championship match.
In the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional, the Buckeyes had four of five players at par or better led by senior Caleb Ramirez at a career-best 9-under par. OSU finished second and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2011. At the NCAA Championships in Arkansas, the Buckeyes played well through the first three rounds and made the 54-hole cut. The fourth round was played in tough, windy conditions and the team played well but missed the match-play cut by just five shots.
That brought an end to the career of four very talented seniors in Daniel Wetterich, Will Grimmer, Will Voetsch and Caleb Ramirez. Wetterich had a 72.19 scoring average in his three seasons as a Buckeyes which was the best since 1980. Grimmer had 25 career rounds in the 60s which is most by a Buckeye since 1980 and Voetsch’s 64 in the 2018 Big Ten Championship is tied with Joey Sindelar for lowest round at the B1G Championship since 1980.
The 2019-20 season, was predictably an up-and-down year as the team was replacing those four graduated seniors with five new faces. Graduate transfer Felix Kvarnstrom was the team’s most consistent player and the freshmen all got valuable experience. But just as the Buckeyes seemed to be settling in for the closing stretch, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and brought an early end to the season.
The 2020-21 season saw the emergence of freshman Maxwell Moldovan. The Uniontown, Ohio native came to campus with a lot of hype and he certainly lived up to it. Smith helped guide Moldovan to 13 consecutive rounds at par or better to open his career. Moldovan finished the year with the lowest OSU single-season stroke average since 1980. The team finished fifth at the Big Ten Championship and went to the NCAA Tallahassee Regional where they finished sixth, just two shots away from qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
Entering the 2021-22 season, Smith and the Buckeyes knew they had a real chance of advancing to the final site by virtue of hosting an NCAA Regional. But with that came added pressure of qualifying and then advancing. The Buckeyes would enjoy a tremendous spring, winning the Southern Invitational and boasting four individual medalists. Behind four Top-20 finishes, the Buckeyes indeed punched their ticket through the NCAA Columbus Regional to the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz. Maxwell Moldovan won three times and was named an All-American for the first time in his career. He was also a unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection while fellow sophomore Adam Wallin earned second team All-Big Ten accolades.
Smith represented Buckeye Nation as a student-athlete from 2007-11 before graduating Summa Cum Laude (3.95 cumulative GPA) with a business administration degree majoring in finance. Not surpisingly, Smith’s academic prowess has worn off on his pupils. The Buckeyes have racked up 17 OSU Scholar-Athlete and a dozen Academic All-Big Ten recognitions in the last two years since Smith returned to the staff.
On the course, Smith pushed Ohio State to a fifth-place effort at the 2011 NCAA Championships by placing 17th overall individually. He picked up Second Team All-Big Ten and PING Midwest All-Region accolades that season after tying All-American Bo Hoag with a team-best 72.63 stroke average in 36 rounds played.
The Peru, Ind., native was also honored as the Big Ten Golfer of the Week on two occasions. The second such recognition came in March ’11 following Smith’s individual medalist performance at the FAU Spring Break Championship.
Smith was an all-around student-athlete, receiving praise academically and from the OSU strength and conditioning staff as well. He picked up ESPN Academic All-America Second Team laurels as a senior to go along with three Academic All-Big Ten and four OSU Scholar-Athlete designations. Smith received admission into the Buckeye Power Club, a distinction presented to just one student-athlete annually from each team who exemplifies specific qualities in the weight room – leadership ability, work ethic, winning attitude, attendance and ability to follow instructions.
Brad and his wife, Carmen, have been married since August 2010 and reside in New Albany with their two daughters, Scarlett and Linden and their son Mac. His uncle, Chris Smith, was a 2000 inductee into the OSU Athletics Hall of Fame. Chris was First Team All-American in 1991 and the Big Ten’s Player of the Year and medalist in 1990.
