Coaches Spotlight: Sherman Smith, Tennessee Titans

By Mike Scandura, NFLHS.com

Sherman Smith has twice taken the road from high school to college to the NFL once as a player, and once as a coach. And while the former Seattle Seahawks star relished competing when he was quarterbacking North High in Youngstown, Ohio, he was also already planning for his future.

"At the time, AAA was the highest level but we were an AA school playing in an AAA league because of enrollment," recalls Smith, who led the Seahawks in rushing each of his first four seasons (1976-79). "For us, it was a heck of a challenge playing schools whose enrollment was three times as large. But we were the best team in the league and won three championships. We had a reputation as being giant killers. Nobody expected us to win.

"It was a combination of 11 players with a great deal of pride and a lot of guts. Playing against better competition made you raise your game to a higher level."

In Smith's opinion, none of that might have happened were it not for his head coach, Clifton Knox. Prior to his arrival, North football was heading south, and there appeared to be little chance the program would reverse direction.

"Before he came, the school had a history of losing," says Smith. "He talked to us about taking pride in the school and the community. He turned it around from the inside out, and he inspired me to be a coach.

"I had a health education course with him and one day said, Man, I want to be a coach.'"

That being said, Smith's coaching education began on the field, where Knox didn't pull any punches when analyzing a player's performance in a game or in practice.

"He would tell you either that was bad or it was great," says Smith. "He had such a balance in the way he carried himself. Coach Knox inspired people because you knew he was going to tell you the truth."

Smith began applying some of those lessons after a stellar career at Miami (Ohio), where he quarterbacked the Red Hawks to three Mid-America Conference titles plus a 33-1-1 overall record in his final three seasons. After his NFL career ended, Smith landed a position at Redmond (Wash.) High where he coached football, basketball and track.

"I was very, very fortunate that Jim Sampson was the head (football) coach at Redmond," relates Smith. "He built upon what I thought coaching was about. He cared about kids on and off the field. He loved the game. He loved his wife and children and showed that you could still be committed to your family instead of vice versa.

"We had a good time coaching together. I could have stayed there and coached forever."

That very well might have happened until a former college teammate, Randy Walker, was named an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio). Then head coach Lou Tepper recruited Smith for his staff, and he coached running backs in 1990 and 1991.

"Lou taught me how people don't care how much you know until they know you care," says Smith. "Even though I'm in a pro sport, it's not my job to make it tough by being crazy. But you must hold them accountable and have realistic expectations."

Smith's expectations at Miami were such that the last thing he expected was to be a pro player, let alone a pro coach. For Smith, the fulfillment of a dream was when he earned his degree and then started dreaming about returning home and coaching football at North High. But fate intervened and led him to Redmond, and the rest is history. In fact, after coaching three years at Illinois following his stint at Miami, he was hired by the Titans' predecessor, the Houston Oilers.

Regardless of whether it was Houston or Nasvhille, Smith's placed heavy emphasis on developing personal relationships.

"I always tell coaches they should coach someone's son and be an example of the way you want them to be to yours," he says. "Don't spend much time on Xs and Os. It's how we treat (players) today that counts.

"Be accountable. Be fair with them. When players tell me I'd be a great head coach, that confirms to me I'm doing the right things because they feel you can make a difference and they'd like to play for you."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.