University of South Dakota alumna, Britni (Waller) Smith, who competed four years as a cross country and track field athlete for the Coyotes, was named assistant director of sports information on April 29, 2015. Smith serves as the primary contact for South Dakota's women's basketball, track & field, cross country and women's triathlon teams.
Smith has covered several successful programs in her time at USD. She promoted the South Dakota women's basketball team's run to the Sweet 16 in 2022, Coyote pole vaulter Chris Nilsen's Olympic silver medal and trifecta of NCAA titles, four NCAA Tournament basketball teams, the women's basketball 2016 Women's National Invitation Tournament title run and 20 Summit League titles across the Coyote cross country, women's basketball and track & field programs. She has successfully nominated and promoted 16 CoSIDA Academic All-America recognitions.
In addition to coverage of her programs, Smith has served as a district coordinator for CoSIDA's Academic All-America committee since 2018.
Other duties at South Dakota include helping direct multiple redesigns and the launch of the Coyotes' official athletics website, GoYotes.com. Projects she has tackled include researching and maintaining the all-time top-10 performance list for track and field, researching women's basketball history, designing Coyote football and basketball game programs and designing the Coyotes' athletics annual report each summer. She has also been a leader in coordinating South Dakota's social media efforts.
Smith grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved to Vermillion as an undergraduate at the University of South Dakota. She earned her bachelor's degree in contemporary media and journalism, with an emphasis in advertising and public relations, in 2014. She completed her master's degree in kinesiology and sport management in 2016. Smith started out in the sports information department as a student before working as a graduate assistant during the 2014-15 academic year.
As a four-year letterwinner at South Dakota, Smith was a top-five runner on the Coyote cross country team and ran every distance from 800 to 10,000 meters as a member of the track and field team. She competed in 11 conference meets and at one time, held the program record as a member of the 4x1,600-meter relay team.
Smith and her husband, Rett, have two daughters, Kinsley and Berkeley.
