Fred Goldsmith (American football)
Fred Goldsmith (born March 3, 1944) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at Slippery Rock University (1981), Rice University (1989–1993), Duke University (1994–1998), and Lenoir–Rhyne University (2007–2010). He also coached at Franklin High School in North Carolina (2001–2005). His career college coaching record was 59–104–1.
While at Rice, Goldsmith led the Owls to a 6-5 season in 1992, nearly earning a bowl bid, and he was named Sports Illustrated National Coach of the Year. Rice finished second in the Southwest Conference that year, but a 61–32 loss to Houston kept them out of a bowl game.
Goldsmith moved to Duke in 1994, where he won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award after Duke posted its first winning season in six years. However, the program declined in following years, and he was fired in 1998 after a run of limited results. The program was also involved in a discrimination case related to walk-on kicker Heather Mercer, with Duke ordered to pay $2,000,001 in damages.
His later coaching included Lenoir–Rhyne University from 2007 to 2010, and he retired from coaching on May 3, 2011.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:18 (CET).