A Legend Retires

After a head coaching career spanning 38 years, with 25 of them at Missouri Western, Tom Smith announced his retirement as men’s basketball coach in December, effective at the end of the 2012-13 season.

“Tom Smith is a legend in the world of basketball coaches. He has meant so much to Missouri Western and the community of St. Joseph,” said Kurt McGuffin, director of athletics. “He will always be a teacher first. His positive relationships with former and current players prove he has coached for many years for the right reasons and in the right way. We are truly blessed to have him at Missouri Western for 25 years and thank him for so many memories.”

Neal Hook ’89, agreed. He played for Tom his first year as coach at Missouri Western and  coached boy’s basketball at Central High School in St. Joseph. “Coach Smith made an immediate impact on our program. His intense competitive spirit was contagious within the group of eight players that he inherited upon his arrival on campus. We were an undersized and normally overmatched basketball team that year but Coach Smith instilled in us a true belief that through hard work and teamwork we would be successful.”

And they were. That first year, the team beat the No. 1 team in the nation on their home court, made it to the District 16 finals and finished the season with an 18-15 record. Neal said that experience, along with the opportunities to work with Tom after he graduated, had a tremendous influence on his coaching career. “He inspired many virtues and philosophies, not only in the game of basketball but also in life,” Neal said. “In the one year of playing for Coach Smith and the 25 years of working with him, I gained a true respect for him as a great leader, coach and friend.”

The following year, 1989, Missouri Western joined the NCAA Division II MIAA conference, and Griffons won the MIAA regular-season and post-season championships and advanced to the NCAA national tournament.

Brett Goodwin ’98, transferred to Missouri Western his sophomore year. “Coach Smith made that transition as comfortable as he could, he treated me as if I had been a member of that team since day one. I believe any player who had the privilege to play under Coach Smith would say the same thing.” Brett is the head girl’s basketball coach at Benton High School in St. Joseph.

Tom’s style of coaching consistently kept the Griffons among the top members of the MIAA and NCAA teams. His teams have always been up-tempo, high-energy and full of talent. He was named the MIAA’s Coach of the Year twice during his tenure at Missouri Western and once at University of Central Missouri, where he started his head coaching career.

”Coach Smith brought in a lot of junior college guys back when I played, so he had little time to mold these players and make them play together as a team,” Brett said. “But this is something he was able to do every year – put new players together and make them gel offensively and defensively, play hard, force them to compete and go to battle everyday with each other.”

And several of those players garnered honors over the years. Lamont Turner was named the MIAA’s Most Valuable Player during the 2001-02 season and Damon Bailey was named the MIAA Postseason Tournament MVP during the 2002-03 season. Tom has also coached three All-America selections – Lamont in 2002, Darrol Wright in 1995 and Mike Cornelious in 1991. In all, he has coached 49 All-MIAA selections at Missouri Western and six All-Region/District selections.

Tom is the winningest basketball coach in MIAA history. In 38 seasons as a collegiate head coach at three different schools, he compiled 618 wins.

He is a member of three Hall of Fames: Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, Missouri Western Athletics Hall of Fame, and the Athletics Hall of Fame at Valparaiso University, where he was head coach for eight seasons before coming to Missouri Western.

“The best thing after 45 years of coaching is all the friendships and relationships I have built in the St. Joseph community and the coaching world,” Tom said.

“I know a lot of players that still keep in contact with Coach Smith,” Brett said. “Playing for him was a wonderful experience, but now becoming a coach myself and building on from what I learned under him and being able to call him my mentor make me really proud. I hope I have made him proud. He has not only been a coach but also a great friend.”

 

The Tom Smith Record Book

4 MIAA Regular Season Championships: 1989, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2002

4 MIAA Post-season Championships: 1990, 1995, 1998, 2003

11 NCAA Tournament Appearances:

1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2010

12 – 20+ Win Seasons:

1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003

Missouri Western Milestone Victories

November 1988 – 1st career win at Missouri Western

January 1990 – 200th career win

March 1990 – 1st MIAA Tournament Championship and 1st NCAA Tournament Victory November 1994 – 300th career win

February 1998 – All-time wins leader at Missouri Western

January 1999 – 400th career win

February 2004 – 500th career win

March 2010 – 1,000 career game

November 2011 – 600th career win. Tom was one of only 60 college coaches to win 600 games.