Beamer makes a big weekend move…
USC Head Football Coach Shane Beamer announced over the weekend that Matthew Smiley is the new Special Teams Coordinator for the Gamecocks. Smiley heads to Columbia after spending last season at Penn State as a special teams analyst.
Prior to that, he spent 8 years with the NFL's Buffalo Bills as assistant special teams coordinator. In 2024 he was the Bills' nominee for USAA's Salute to Service Award.
Overall, the married father of four, has 21 years of coaching experience. Official press release below:
COLUMBIA, S.C. (February 21, 2026) – University of South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer has named Matthew Smiley as the Gamecocks’ special teams coordinator, it was announced today.
Smiley, 47, comes to Columbia after spending the 2025 season as a special teams analyst at Penn State. Overall, he has 21 years of coaching experience, logging stints at both the collegiate and professional levels.
Smiley worked for the Buffalo Bills in the National Football League for eight years from 2017-24. He served on Sean McDermott’s staff as the Bills’ assistant special teams coach for five seasons (2017-21), then spent three years (2022-24) as Buffalo’s special teams coordinator.
Prior to his stay in Buffalo, Smiley spent four years (2013-16) as an assistant special teams coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A native of East Lynn, Ill., and a 2001 graduate of the University of Illinois, Smiley began his coaching career in the collegiate ranks, first at Dartmouth College, where he served as an assistant quarterbacks and specialists coach for the Big Green in 2005 before assuming the duties of special teams coordinator in 2006.
He spent the following two seasons at Eureka (Ill.) College where he served as the offensive coordinator in 2007 and the defensive coordinator in 2008, competing at the Division III level. He also logged a brief stint as the Red Devils’ interim head coach in 2008.
Smiley took over as the running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Eastern Illinois from 2009-2011, then has a similar role at Charleston Southern in 2012 before moving to the professional ranks in Jacksonville.
Prior to his coaching career, Smiley served in the U.S. Air Force for four years as a maintenance officer in Grand Forks, N.D.. While on active duty, Smiley was deployed overseas four times in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and received the U.S. Air Force Commendation Medal for his efforts. Between deployments, he served as a football coach for the specialists at the University of North Dakota.
Smiley was the Bills’ nominee for the annual Salute to Service Award presented by USAA in 2024. The award recognizes NFL players, coaches, staff and alumni who make exceptional efforts to honor and support military and veteran communities.
Smiley and his wife, Marissa, have four children, Madelyn, Ella, Ava and Caleb.