Smith Hired Defensive Coordinator

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern and Head Football Coach Jay Mills have announced the hiring of Thielen Smith as the defensive coordinator for the 2008 football season.

Smith comes to CSU from Marshall University, and will replace Darrell Perkins, who left for Louisiana-Monroe. Having spent the past two years with the Thundering Herd, Smith was the defensive line and linebackers coach in the upstate at Clemson from 1999-2004.

In the coaching profession for almost 30 years, Smith also spent time in Louisiana at schools like Tulane, ULM, LSU and Louisiana-Lafayette, coaching the defensive line and linebackers at each stop.

As a coach, Smith has experienced seven bowl seasons, graduating 80 percent of his players.

Smith graduated from LSU in 1977 with a B.S. in education, having played four seasons for the LSU Tigers under Coach Charlie McClendon.