Men's Rowing - Lightweight
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- ms43@princeton.edu
- Phone:
- 609-258-5356
You can reach Coach Smith at ms43@princeton.edu.
Matt Smith, a 2004 United States Olympian and a coach with strong collegiate and international experience, finished his 10th season with the Princeton heavyweights in 2025, and he has helped head coach Greg Hughes build Princeton into one of the deepest, most talented programs in the nation.
2025 saw the Tigers finish fifth in the IRA Ten Eyck Standings, with the 1V finishing fourth in its Grand Final. The 3V also advanced to the Grand Final, while the 2V won the Petite Final. At Eastern Sprints, the Tigers finished second in the team point standings, with the 2V and 3V winning silver and the 1V and 4V bronze.
In 2024, Princeton captured second place in the IRA Ten Eyck Standings which was the highest mark for the team since 2016 and the best score among all East Coast schools. The 2V earned a silver medal, its first medal at IRAs since 2017 and a five-spot jump from 2023. The 3V also collected a silver, its first medal since 2016.
The Tigers claimed the Rowe Cup at Eastern Sprints in 2024 for the first time since 2016 led by gold medals from the 2V and 3V.
2024 was one of the best seasons in program history as it's the first time ever that Princeton's 1V and 2V each went undefeated during the same season. The Tigers' 1V has had a perfect regular season just five times (1881, 1997, 1999, 2006) in the 152-year history of the program.
The 2023 season saw the first varsity lose to only Yale in the regular season before collecting its first medal at Eastern Sprints since 2016 with a silver medal, trailing only the Bulldogs.
Princeton's first varsity earned a bronze medal at the 2023 IRA Championships, the boat’s first IRA medal since 2016. The Tigers also finished fourth in the Ten Eyck standings, a four-spot jump from 2022.
The 2022 season featured the varsity four of Eleanor Bauer, Greg Le Meur, Matthew Wagner, Emmett Infante and Sam Kleiner collecting gold at the IRA Championships. It was the first gold medal for Princeton at IRAs since the third varsity in 2016 and the first medal for the Tigers since the varsity four took bronze in 2019. Washington had won the previous 11 4+ titles. The Tigers collected five All-America honors following the 2022 campaign.
Princeton produced five All-Americans in 2021 after securing eighth place at the IRA Championships.
Smith was recently promoted to Associate Head Coach in the fall of 2019.
Smith coached both the Princeton 3V and 4V during the 2016 season, and he experienced plenty of winning throughout the season. After perfect regular seasons by both boats, both the 3V and 4V went to Sprints and capped those seasons with gold medals. The 3V punctuated the season in style by winning gold at the IRA national championships; it was the first gold medal for a Princeton boat at IRAs since the freshman eight won the 2003 title. Members of the 4V created a varsity four that won silver at IRAs.
His work with the whole program helped Princeton repeat as Rowe Cup champion at Eastern Sprints. Princeton also finished second in the team points race at the IRA Championships, its best finish since 2005.
In 2018, Princeton won gold in both the 2V and 4V Sprints finals, while the 3V earned silver.
During his first season, Princeton went 8-1 as a team, including its first win over Harvard since 2006, and it medaled in the V8 grand finals at both Sprints and IRAs. The V8 and 2V8 combined to finish 3.95 seconds out of first place in their respective IRA grand finals. No Eastern program combined to go under four seconds in those two IRA races since 2004.
Smith also helped send an unprecedented three boats to the 2015 Royal Henley Regatta, and his top two boats were placed in the prestigious Ladies Plate Challenge.
Smith, who had served as associate head coach at Cornell from 2008-14, spent the 2012-14 summers as either an assistant coach or head of the USRowing Under-23 men’s national team. He specifically selected and trained the 2014 men’s eight, which included two returning Princeton heavyweights in James Hamp and Patrick Kontinnen, and led the boat to a bronze medal.
Hughes and Smith have a relationship that dates back to their own rowing days; they served as the LM2- spare pair at the 1998 World Championships. During that time period, Smith was a medalist at both Eastern Sprints and the IRA Championships for Wisconsin. He was also a team captain for the Badgers and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
Smith had a highly successful six-year tenure at Cornell, where he guided five crews to medals at the Eastern Sprints. His freshman eight earned a bronze medal at the 2014 Sprints, it was the lone Cornell boat to reach a grand final at the IRA Championships. Over the last three years, his freshman eight has posted a 12-2 record during the regular season and medalled each year at Sprints.
Following his graduation from Wisconsin in 2000, Smith was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army where he continued his elite rowing career in the Army’s World Class Athlete Program.
During his time in the military, Smith was promoted twice, eventually earning the rank of Captain, and was awarded the Bronze Star and Meritorious Service Medals for exceptional duty in combat and peacetime operations. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School and Airborne School.
A seven-time member of the U.S national rowing team, Smith has won medals at the Pan-American Games, World Championships, and National Championships, while also representing the U.S. in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Smith is married to Hilary Gehman, a six-time member of the U.S. national rowing team and a two-time Olympian. They have two sons, Luke and Carson.
