December 26, 2011 at 8:29 p.m.
Smith moving on to next phase
UW-Superior's all-time leading scorer turns attention to coaching
Smith moving on to next phase
The serious playing days are over for UW-Superior's all-time leading scorer, but that doesn't mean that he is leaving the game that he loves.
Smith took a position as the JV coach of the Superior High School boys' basketball team before the start of this season and looks to keep coaching a part of his career.
After scoring 1,910 points at Superior, earning all-region honors and playing in the NCAA Division III All-Star Game, Smith was ready to decompress. He said there was a period of nearly four months where he barely touched a basketball.
"The past four years just wore me out mentally and physically," Smith told the River News. "I gave it everything I had all the time. I was fried out completely. (When) you take those months off, it's just the best feeling ever. When you don't do what you had to do everyday - working out, practice - it feels good. You get to go home and relax after class and feel almost like a regular college student."
Smith added that the time away from the game allowed him to reflect upon what he accomplished as a Yellowjacket.
"That's why I think I'm taking it as well as I am right now," said Smith. "I can look back and reflect on the career that I had and have no regrets. I would have done the same thing over again in a heartbeat. It's just nice to look back on it and see what I did."
But Smith's hiatus from the game was short-lived. Soon parents asked him to start working with their kids. Then, Superior High School head coach Dave Kontny approached Smith about a position on the Spartans' coaching staff.
"This summer, (Kontny) approached me and said that he needed a JV coach," Smith said. "He was really serious about it. Coaching was always something that I wanted to get into after I was done playing. He had the opening, I went through the application process and everything worked out for me."
For Smith, who is finishing up a math education degree at UW-Superior, teaching and coaching go hand-in-hand. He will begin student teaching at Superior High School in January. He said that coaching allows him to pay forward the knowledge he received from coaches and players in Rhinelander and Superior.
"I had people ahead of me that I used to look up to and I thought it was the coolest thing ever when I was able to even talk to (former RHS player) Marshall Watry," Smith added. "I loved watching him play and just being able to talk to him was pretty cool. I put myself in the kids' shoes and give back to them."
Smith plans to stay in the Superior area after graduation and would someday cherish the opportunity to be a head varsity basketball coach.
"If all things fall into place, who knows what would happen, but that's the ultimate goal," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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