No small feat

Smith has turned around alma mater


By Philip Cmor

pcmor@altoonamirror.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Convincing his players that he even played football has become a challenge for 5-foot-8 Terry Smith.

Take, for example, the exchange that took place at Hollidaysburg Junior High School earlier this week between Smith and two of the West players with whom he has been charged this week for the PSFCA All-Star Game — Pitt recruits Mike Cruz of Bishop McCort and Chris Burns of Wilmington.

‘‘Mike asked him if he really played and ‘‘where’d you play.’’ Coach was kind of upset,’’ Burns said. ‘‘He told us he was from Penn State, and we said that’s the real reason he didn’t like us. He told us we were going to have to run for our comments.’’

‘‘They asked me if I went to college,’’ Smith said. ‘‘I was like, ‘Wait, so now you are questioning if I am educated?’’’

All kidding aside, Smith had a pretty good playing career. His 55 receptions as a senior in 1991 when Cruz and Burns were in diapers were a single-season record at the time for Penn State. His 108 career catches still have him ninth on Nittany Lion charts — he was sixth before being surpasses by Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams this season.

Still, it looks like that is going to pale in comparison to what he’s doing on the sidelines. In just six years, Smith has revived a slumbering program at his high school alma mater of Monroeville Gateway and begun churning out major Division I college players like they grew on trees.

‘‘The foundation of our program is hard work,’’ said Smith, who has a .746 winning percentage and has taken two teams to the WPIAL finals. ‘‘All coaches say it, but we believe if we work hard in the offseason, that’ll mold us to who we’re going to be during the season.’’

It’s gotten the respect of Smith’s peers. This is the second time Smith has been one of the coaches for the East West Game, the first time as a head coach. He’s been an assistant in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio twice before and will soon be announced as the East head coach in the 2009 edition of that game.

Smith’s success has been an ability to connect with his players and still be respected. West lineman Eric Warning, one of three Gateway players in this year’s game, talked about how Smith makes things fun just an hour or so after his coached chewed him out for a bad shotgun snap.

‘‘The players look up to him for having [played on] two of the [WPIAL] championships. In the community, he’s definitely one of the role models. He’s involved with track and other sports,’’ Warning said. ’’ He doesn’t get out of practice until an hour after the last kid leaves, just going over everything. It’s just his work ethic, and everything he does all adds up.’’

Smith said he had no intention of getting into coaching coming out of Penn State. However, after being drafted by the Redskins, spending two years in the Canadian Football League and a year in the Arena League, a broken hand had him looking at other options.

Smith had taken a job selling money order machines, when an opportunity came to become an assistant coach at Hempfield High School. After a year there, he spent four years at Duquesne University before returning to his alma mater as an assistant to Tom Morgan. When Morgan retired the following year, Smith became the head coach.

With his resume, speculation abounds that Smith, who is also the athletic director at Gateway, will someday return to coaching in the college ranks. Penn State and Pitt have been offered as potential destinations, but Smith brushes that off.

‘‘My goal is to be the best coach I can be. I don’t want to ever go looking for a job. I want to be good enough that if an opportunity knocks at my door, I’ll examine it and see if it is the best thing for my family,’’ Smith said. ‘‘If an opportunity presents itself, I’ll look at it, but that’s not my goal.’’

Smith also addressed recently Internet speculation that his relationship with his college alma mater’s football program had cooled in recent years. That’s been fueled by the fact that only two of his players have gone on to play at Penn State.

‘‘I have a great relationship. Tom Bradley comes to my school every spring, winter, fall. We talk on the phone at least once a month,’’ Smith said. ‘‘The thing that I think my kids examine when they look at Penn State is if or when there will be change. They don’t want to be caught in change.

‘‘I don’t tell a kid to go here or not to go here. They’ve got to make their own decisions.’’

Smith described his chance to be the head coach for the West this year as ‘‘an honor.’’

‘‘I was ecstatic when I got the invitation,’’ Smith said. ‘‘The people in Blair County do just a fantastic job of taking care of the kids and taking care of the coaches. It’s a first-class operation. I’ve coached twice in the U.S. Army All-American game, and this game does not take a backseat to that game in how it’s all put together and run.’’