Devin Smiley joined the Navy women’s rugby program in February 2025 as the team’s recruiting coordinator and assistant coach.
Prior to his current role, Smiley spent four years at the Naval Academy as a volunteer assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams. He also served as the live video commentator for all Navy home matches, an operations specialist and an assistant coach for Navy’s men’s and women’s summer camps.
Smiley began his coaching career in 2020 as a volunteer youth rugby coach for several teams in the Annapolis area, including the Maryland Valkyries Club, Mount Saint Joseph High School, the Maryland Diamondbacks program and the Severna Park Green Hornets. In 2023, he led the Valkyries to the Maryland Division II State Championship.
A retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, Smiley is a 2000 graduate of the United States Naval Academy where he played all four years with the rugby club. He served 21 years as an AH-1W attack helicopter pilot, deploying six times to Iraq and Afghanistan as a Weapons and Tactics Instructor and Forward Air Controller. His career spans a range of technical and non-technical fields, including aviation, operations, fires, instruction, computer science, cybersecurity, program management and digital transformation.
Smiley returned to the Academy in 2023 as an adjunct professor, teaching Introduction to Cybersecurity Fundamentals and Weapons Systems Engineering.
Smiley resides in Annapolis with his wife, Christi Crovato, and their four children.
