Otis Smith is entering his 13th overall season as the first-ever men’s and women’s golf coach at Midway University after another banner season in 2024-25.
Smith started the women’s golf program prior to the 2013-14 season and then prior to the 2016-17 season, he started the men’s golf program.
Smith has had a successful 13-year run on the women’s side thus far. After leading his team to five consecutive River States Conference Women’s Golf Championships dating from 2016 to 2021 (COVID-19 canceled the 2020 championship), he and the Eagles were back on top in 2025, winning the RSC Championship Match by seven strokes and earning him a sixth conference Coach of the Year Award.
So far at Midway, Smith has five times coached the RSC Women’s Golfer of the Year, five times coached the RSC Women’s Golf Newcomer of the Year and has had 25 players earn All-Conference honors. Freshman Kasey Cameron earned Player and Newcomer of the Year honors in 2025 while also becoming the second Midway player to ever make the individual cut at the NAIA National Championships.
The 2025 Eagles also had the lowest average score (325.66) in program history, won the RSC Fall Preview for the fifth year in a row and set three different program records at the UNOH Fall Invitational in August. Cameron (78.81) and Phillips (79.53) also had the two lowest individual scoring averages ever recorded by Eagle players.
Things were just as good on the men's side in 2025, where Smith won his fourth RSC Coach of the Year award after leading Midway to a fourth River States Championship in the last five seasons. The men also set multiple records at the UNOH Invitational, highlighted by Hayes Mason recording the best three-round score (201) ever achieved by a Midway player. As a team, the Eagles shot an average round of 300.32, the second best mark in school history.
To add to the list of awards, Logan Conn claimed the RSC Men’s Golfer of the Year for the 2020-21 season while Conn, William Molen and Mason earned RSC Tournament medalist honors three years in a row from 2021 to 2023.
During his time with the men’s team, Smith has coached the RSC Men’s Golf Newcomer of the Year, while he’s had 25 players earn All-Conference honors.
Smith also is a PGA Professional having completed the Professional Golf Management Program – a three-year course in golf business management and being elected to PGA membership in January 2008.
During his ten-year tenure as a golf professional at East Lake Golf Club’s Charlie Yates Course in Atlanta, Georgia, Smith taught over 900 students how to play the game. Additionally, he has taught classes at Emory University, as well as other schools in the Atlanta-metro area, including Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Agnes Scott College. He was also assistant golf coach at Savannah College of Art and Design - Atlanta (SCAD).
A native of Atlanta, Ga., Smith is veteran of the United States Army. While in the U.S. Army he attended Columbia College. Prior to getting his career started in golf, Smith worked as a Human Resources Manager for 13 years.
