He won’t like this recognition. He’ll tell you Coe-Brown going from 11-9 last year to 18-4 and a spot in the Division II championship game this year was all about the kids. And that’s one of the reasons why Coe-Brown boys’ basketball Coach David Smith is our 2017 Winter Coach of the Season.
There’s no doubt the Bears had talented and hard-working kids. But without Smith’s guidance, that talent and hard work probably wouldn’t have led Coe-Brown to its first final since 2003.
Smith was the one who decided to play with a four-guard lineup to best utilize his team’s strengths. The strategy worked, allowing Brody Ashley to maximize his playmaking ability, Scott Spenard to maximize his scoring and Sam Lupinacci to do a little a bit of everything, and helping all three of them earn D-II honors in the process (Lupinacci was a First Team pick, Ashley and Spenard Honorable Mention). Not only did Smith play four guards at once, he allowed his center, 6-foot-5 Dylan Andrews, to step outside and shoot 3s.
More importantly, Smith was a leader off the court. Here’s a snippet of an email that Steve Spenard, father to Coe-Brown players Shawn and Scott Spenard, sent to Smith and shared with the Monitor:
“You have been such a positive mentor and teacher for (Shawn and Scott) through your coaching and being headmaster. In all the years I have never heard my sons say one bad word about you so you must be doing something right … haha. You have spent so much time with them over the years and have helped me in shaping my sons to become fine young men now.”
This recognition is for the 2016-17 season, but it’s worth noting that Smith has been molding boys into young men for 50 years as a basketball coach. He began at Alton High School (now Prospect Mountain) in 1967, and he’s been the head coach at Coe-Brown since 1990. If you have any doubt as to his impact at that school as both a coach and a headmaster, all you need to do is look at the name on the school’s gymnasium – Smith Hall – named after our 2017 Coach of the Season.