Beaufort Academy has hired veteran coach Bobby Smith to lead its boys basketball program, athletics director Nick Field said Tuesday.

Smith has 45 years of coaching experience at the high school and college levels, Field said, and has compiled nearly 500 wins as a head coach while sending more than 100 players to NCAA Division I programs.

“He’s a guy who knows how to put kids in college and knows how to win,” Field said. “He’s done it for a long time.”&nbsp;

Smith spent two years as an assistant at Beaufort High School, working alongside Field and former head coach Nathan Livesay, who resigned from Beaufort Academy last month.

The Eagles expect to return 11 players from last year’s team that reached the SCISA 1A quarterfinals, including all-state player Dawson Coleman.

&nbsp;