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By Darcy Gifford '91
You've seen the modern day, flashy college
basketball coaches, right? The Armani suit, slick backed hair
and made-for-ESPN swagger.
Fred Smith '76
ain't one of them.
Smith, the head men's basketball coach at Siena Heights University
on the east side of Adrian, is more of a substance-over-style
kind of guy. He has been aptly described as "all cake and
no frosting." This is a guy who once came back from a high-powered
meeting with administrators, put his feet up on the desk, and
had the room erupt in laughter when everyone realized he was all
dressed up--but donning one black shoe and one blue shoe.
Smith has been Siena's athletic director since 1983. The SHU coaches
praise their boss' integrity and keen management ability--and
in the next breath rush to tell a funny "Fred story."
Everyone, it seems, has one. So they joke and they rib him. And
that's just fine with the humble Smith, who doesn't take himself
all that seriously anyway.
Of coaching, he says, "We all can do it. It's a craft, but
it's not brain surgery. The game itself is very learnable."
And has Smith ever mastered his craft. In 18 seasons roaming the
Saints sideline, Smith has won an eye-popping 456 games--an average
of 25 wins per year. The Saints have qualified for post-season
play every year of his tenure and have advanced to the national
tournament 11 times. In 1997, the Saints narrowly missed claiming
the NAIA Division II National Championship when they fell 95-94
to Bethel (Ind.). He has been named NAIA District 23 Coach of
the Year three times and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference
Coach of the Year four times.
Smith, however, is quick to deflect the attention
away from himself and place it squarely on those surrounding him.
"We've been good simply because we've
had good players," he said. "We've had extreme loyalty,
great coaches, and the kids have great heart."
Smith is synonymous with Siena Heights basketball.
He was an eager young coach back in 1977 when former coach Ben
Braun (now the head man at California) hired him as an assistant,
and he's been drawing up X's and O's ever since. When Braun left
to take the head job at Eastern Michigan University in 1985, the
reins were handed to Smith. Now, 456 wins later, Smith has established
himself as one of the most successful collegiate coaches in the
Midwest.
WE'RE ALL A LITTLE ZANY
Trying to interview the gregarious Smith is a little like being
the silver sphere in a pinball machine. He floats effortlessly
from one topic to the next. He'll assess the state of collegiate
athletics and the implications of Title IX. The next minute his
booming, made-for-radio voice rises as he talks about his new-found
love of country music. His office and cell phones are a constant
choir of rings as people try to catch a moment with him. Coaches
and faculty members stop by. He has a Hall of Fame meeting in
the morning, then races home to check on one of his kids who is
battling mononucleosis.
Yet amid the chaos, it's easy to see why people
are so enamored of him. He oozes charisma. Wearing a yellow golf
shirt and a blue windbreaker, he leans back in his chair, puts
his hands behind his neck, and spins stories from his past. His
mind is a Rolodex of Saints basketball information, and he proudly
talks about former players and how their lives have unfolded.
He's so engaging that it's like sitting in a bar having a drink
with an old college buddy. His sentences are sometimes peppered
with profanity, even with the tape recorder a foot away from him,
but Smith is not deterred.
And that's probably the lesson Smith learned
the best, and the one he passes on to those in his life. Just
be real. He succeeded the hugely popular and talented Ben Braun,
but never tried to be Ben Braun. Instead, he emulated Braun's
hard work and tenacity and just let his own personality do the
rest.
"You have to be yourself--however you are and whatever God
gave you," Smith says. "And it's all zany."
BRED ON SPORTS
Smith, the third child of Cliff and Jannette Smith, was raised
in Adrian in what he calls a "typical Catholic family."
It was also a family whose activities centered around sports.
Football, baseball, basketball--you name it and he and older brother
Chuck played it. The close-knit clan also includes older sister
Cathy and younger sister Lisa.
By his own account, Smith seems to be a perfect blend of his parents.
His father, who passed away in November 2002, was a tough disciplinarian
but also a charmer. His mother, who died six years ago, was charismatic
and loved to talk. Both loved watching their son coach, although
as Smith tells it, Cliff was sometimes so irate he left at halftime
and Jannette chastised her son for his courtside language, saying
he was "embarrassing the nuns."
Smith is an avid U-M football fan, and former coach Bo Schembechler
remains his hero. But it was on the hardwood that Smith made a
name for himself. His basketball prowess led him to Northwood,
where he played two years before earning an associate degree and
transferring to Adrian College. At AC, he played for coach Tony
Archibald and earned team MVP and All-MIAA honors in 1976.
"It was awesome," he says of his Adrian experience.
"What was great about Adrian was the liberal education. I
just fell in love with it."
He fondly rattles off the names of professors as though he sat
in their classrooms last week: Fechner, MacNaughton, Marchand,
VandenBoss, Davis. He parlayed his education and love of learning
into a job as a Siena Heights admissions counselor back in 1976.
In the early 1980s he interviewed for various coaching jobs--including
one at Adrian and one at Eastern Michigan--but when those didn't
pan out he decided to stay at Siena Heights. Now he wouldn't even
dream of leaving.
JUST WIN, MAN
At Siena, Smith has created an atmosphere of success. The Saints
don't rebuild, they reload. The program has graduated 13 seniors
in the last two years, yet the team doesn't seem to miss a beat.
The 2002-2003 team-considerably younger by SHU standards-went
28-8. Smith's teams are best known for their frenetic style of
play-94 feet of relentless, trapping, up-tempo, in-your-face basketball.
Last year's team averaged 91.0 points per game (a low number for
an SHU team) and forced 22.7 turnovers per game.
"Our style of play is maybe not as conventional as some,
but we believe in it," Smith says. "We build off our
defense. We're going to press the whole game, and we're going
to really push the ball and play a lot of players. The Siena style
is maybe a little unique, I don't know, I'm only in it. I'm not
outside looking in. I know that as a coach, though, I hated to
play against teams that would disrupt us and would get us out
of our flow."
And, much to the chagrin of Bulldog fans, the Saints--coached
by an Adrian grad--have taken Adrian College out of their flow.
The Saints had enjoyed the upper hand in the annual AC-SHU game
before the Bulldogs pulled off a thrilling 76-75 upset of the
#6 ranked Saints in February. It was Adrian's first win over the
cross-town club since 1987.
ON THE COURT AND OFF
By all accounts, his players respect yet have a healthy fear of
Smith. And they should. Despite his assertion that he was just
a "fun-loving party guy" back in his college days, Smith
has evolved into a disciplinarian. Not only is he unwilling to
tolerate academic laziness or partying, he also abhors tardiness.
He's strict, but then again he can be, since he has created a
strong junior varsity program and has loads of able players waiting
in the wings. Practices are described as "wars." And
Smith is capital-letter intense, pacing the sideline and shouting
so fiercely it's amazing he still has his voice when the season
ends.
Yet there’s another side to Smith, the intensely private
side. The part that is reluctant to talk about his battle with
Hodgkin’s Disease (a cancer of the lymphatic system). Struck
ill in 1994, he underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and 38 radiation
treatments. Despite being uncomfortable with the subject, he does
admit that there was a time when he didn't think he'd live to
see the year 2000.
"It changed me, and it has to continue to change me, because
you don't want to forget," he says. "You don't want
to get caught up more in the meaningless type stuff."
He pauses, then shrugs it off by saying, "There's a hell
of a lot more people that have had it tougher than I have."
Eclipsing his year 2000 goal, Smith now sets goals in increments,
like wanting to see his kids graduate. He is the father of four:
Michelle (24), Amy (17), Julie (15), and Freddie (13). He became
a grandfather when Michelle gave birth to Isabella in November
2002. And he remarried in April 2003.
RELOADING
Following the interview, Smith is driving up to Belleville to
sign a player. The recruiting never ends, but that's what it takes
to consistently be the best.
He also learned a little something from a posting in former AC
football coach Tom Heckert's office. It read: don't mistake activity
for achievement. So he's insanely busy, yet productive. His coaching
record says it all.
"A lot of it [success] is working hard--just be willing to
work all the time," Smith says. "It's more than a job
really. And I like it. Let's be honest. I'd rather do this than
mow the damn grass."
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Photo courtesy of The Daily Telegram
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