Road to Duke
Nolan Derek Smith was born July 25, 1988, in Louisville, Kentucky. Named after Nolan Ryan. His mother Monica had a law degree from Louisville. His father was Derek Smith.
Derek arrived at Louisville in 1979 as a sixteen-year-old from Hogansville, Georgia — population barely a thousand — with his wardrobe in a brown paper sack. He was a starting forward on Louisville’s 1980 NCAA championship team. He outscored Michael Jordan 33–20 in a famous 1984 game. He played nine NBA years. Many credit him with helping popularize the high five. He became an assistant coach for the Washington Bullets, and little Nolan set screens on NBA paint as a toddler. “The first person to put a ball in my hands was my dad. I felt like it was at birth.”
On August 9, 1996, while on a family cruise near Bermuda, Derek suffered a fatal heart attack on deck. He was thirty-four. Nolan was eight. Their last conversation was about attitude: “If this is the sport you choose to play the rest of your life, it’s all going to come down to your attitude. Atttiiiituuuude. You hear me?”
After Derek’s death, the Bullets made Nolan a fixture at home games. Derek’s former teammate and Duke alumnus Johnny Dawkins became “Uncle Johnny” — the father figure. At thirteen, Nolan met Michael Beasley on a court. Beasley had his own problems at home. Nolan’s mother and stepfather Curtis Malone took him in. By eighth grade, Beasley had moved in permanently. “It was like the brother he never had.”
At Oak Hill Academy, Nolan played alongside Beasley and Ty Lawson. McDonald’s All-American. He considered Louisville — his father’s school — but knew the weight would be unbearable. Uncle Johnny, now at Duke, arranged a camp visit. Coach K saw the boy’s huge feet. Nolan committed January 12, 2006. He would write his own chapters while still being his father’s little shadow.
At Duke
Nolan played four years at Duke (2007–11), appearing in 143 games. His freshman year was emotionally devastating. Taking the floor at Cameron for the first time, he found himself looking at the ceiling for his father. It became his ritual. Every building in the ACC — always the roof. His mother shouted “Go to work!” before every tip-off. Their ode to Derek.
Freshman and sophomore years: 6.1 and 8.5 PPG. Coach K pulled him from the starting lineup midseason as a sophomore. It could have broken him. Instead, it forged him.
Junior year, 2009–10: the explosion. 17.4 PPG. Scored 29 in the Elite Eight vs Baylor. The championship game was in Indianapolis — the same city where his father won in 1980. Duke beat Butler 61–59. Nolan was a champion, thirty years after his father, in the same city. All-Final Four Team.
Senior year: the coronation. 20.6/5.1/4.5 — one of two players nationally averaging 20 and 5. Career-high 34 vs UNC. ACC Player of the Year. Consensus First Team All-American. Finalist for Naismith, Wooden, Robertson, and Cousy Awards. Duke went 32–5. His senior class finished 65–2 at home — .970, the best in Duke history.
After Duke
Portland took Smith 21st overall in 2011. Played 44 rookie games (3.8 PPG). Carried off on a stretcher in 2012 Summer League after an elbow to the head. G-League stint with Idaho Stampede (22.5 PPG). Signed with Cedevita Zagreb in Croatia (2013), where he hit a game-winner with 0.6 seconds left. The NBA career was brief. The overseas career was productive. The coaching career was inevitable.
Where Is He Now
Smith returned to Duke in 2016: special assistant, director of basketball ops, assistant coach by 2021. Six years on staff: 159-47 record (.772), 2022 Final Four, coached 25 future NBA players including Tatum, Williamson, Barrett, Banchero, and Bagley.
When Coach K retired, Nolan felt Louisville’s pull. Kenny Payne — Derek’s former teammate — hired him. But Louisville won just 12 games in two seasons; the entire staff was let go. Smith briefly joined Memphis before being named head coach at Tennessee State in July 2025 — an HBCU in Nashville, his first head coaching position.
He is married to Cheyna Elliott, a UNC graduate. Three children: Camryn, Derek “Deuce,” and Kai. His father is buried in Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery, near Colonel Sanders and a short distance from Muhammad Ali. On his right arm: a tattoo of his father’s face and the words “Forever Watching.”
Nolan Smith was born in Louisville and named after Nolan Ryan. His father arrived at Louisville with his wardrobe in a paper sack, won a championship, outscored Jordan, played nine NBA years, and died on a cruise ship near Bermuda when Nolan was eight. Johnny Dawkins became Uncle Johnny. Michael Beasley became the brother he never had. At Duke, Nolan looked at the ceiling in every arena. His mother shouted “Go to work!” He won the 2010 championship in Indianapolis — same city, thirty years later. ACC Player of the Year. Consensus All-American. Drafted 21st. Went back to Duke to coach. Went to Louisville to honor his father. Now the head coach at Tennessee State. His son is named Deuce. His father is buried near Muhammad Ali. And on his right arm, in permanent ink, Derek Smith is still watching. Forever.