False Bio Costs Assistant His Job

Rick Smith was forced to resign as Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator after a committee concluded he misrepresented himself in his media guide profile.

Smith, hired last month by new Coach Chan Gailey, admitted Monday he never played on the football and baseball teams at Florida State, as his profile said.

“You don’t want to bring anyone in ... where they don’t have a wide base of support from the faculty, the students and the alumni,” said Bill Wepfer, associate chairman of the School of Mechanical Engineering, on Saturday. “There’s a sense that we are in a new era where everything has to be perfect.

“So there was a lot of concern from people in the Georgia Tech community that felt we needed to rise to this new level.”

Smith had served as assistant head coach, recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach at Kentucky.

“I’m unemployed,” he said. “I don’t have a job at Kentucky. I don’t have a job at Georgia Tech. I’m basically ruined.”