Smith to take reins of Nanooks women's basketball program
Originally published Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 12:31 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 12:03 a.m.
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FAIRBANKS — Darryl Smith was named the new head coach of the Alaska Nanooks women’s basketball team Tuesday morning.
Smith replaces Lynn Andrew as head coach of the Nanooks, who went 12-14 last season.
“I’m just thrilled to have the opportunity,” Smith said on his cell phone from his parents’ home in Placerville, Calif. “Can’t wait to get up there, get started.”
Alaska athletic director Forrest Karr said Smith’s .621 winning percentage in 15 years as a head women’s coach was a big reason he wanted Smith on board.
The response from Smith’s former co-workers and superiors cemented the decision.
“The feedback that I was getting was all positive,” Karr said. “They said that Darryl was able to get the respect of his players, that he gets them to play hard, he does the job the right way, he’s a good teacher and he has positive impact on the department and a good relationship with his co-workers.
“At that point, I said, ‘It’s difficult to find a reason not to hire this person.’”
Karr said Smith’s exuberance was also a factor.
“One of the first things you notice (about Smith) is just this really engaging, enthusiastic, positive personality,” Karr said.
Smith was offered the position on Monday after meeting Wednesday with a six-person selection committee, several Nanooks players and media members and taking part in a public forum.
Four other prospective coaches went through the same process before him. Karr said the majority of the committee recommended Smith and that players also had positive impression of him.
In his visit to Fairbanks on Wednesday, Smith stressed his ability to turn programs around quickly. He reiterated that point over the phone.
“I’m ready,” he said. “You can hold my feet to the fire.
“... I’m not a big blamer (who will) say ‘Whatever kids who were left here weren’t good enough’ or that it’s going to take me two or three years. I know they’ve got some fine players there, I’m looking forward to meeting them and working with them.”
At Metro State College of Denver, a program whose best season was 11-16 before he arrived, Smith never had a losing season and won four conference championships.
Later, he led Wichita State to its first 20-win season. That win total is the first goal he set for the Nanooks.
“That will be what we’ll shoot for,” Smith said. “I think 20 games is a reasonable benchmark, and then to compete for a conference championship. Once you can accomplish those two things, a lot of good things can happen from there.”
Lane Lord, head women’s basketball coach at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan., said Smith’s impact on a team is clear and that bringing consistent success to the Nanooks is well within his ability.
“Oh, I think he can definitely do that,” said Lord, who was a high school coach when he met Smith, then at Wichita State.
Smith’s contract is officially in effect Sunday, but he’s already working on bringing recruits to Fairbanks.
He’s heading for Denver today to meet with recruits and has a 10-day trip on tap to look at several other prospective players in the Lower 48.
Karr said that after all the interviews, Smith and former Nanooks men’s basketball coach Al Sokaitis were the standout candidates. Smith’s experience with the women’s game gave him an edge.
“I like Al a lot, and I respect him as a person and a coach” Karr said. “... Either one of them can win basketball games and would win basketball games in this role.”
The phone call to tell Sokaitis he was not going to get the position was a hard one to make, Karr wrote in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon.
The committee that recommended Smith included: Bart LeBon, a local businessman and program supporter; John Fox, a forestry professor at UAF and faculty athletics representative; senior UAF basketball player Christina Bruketta; Amy Krier, president of the women’s basketball booster club; Deanna Dieringer, director of financial aid at UAF; and assistant athletics director Pamm Hubbard.
Smith coached as an assistant at California State University-San Bernardino for the 1989-90 season. He moved on to take the head coaching job at Metro State College of Denver, a Division II program, until 1998.
He then spent five years as head coach at Wichita State and two at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan.
Nevada went 18-12 in his one year as an assistant.
He has a 267-163 record as a head coach and is 234-132 in NCAA Divisions I and II.
Community Discussion
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EXCELLENT CHOICE UAF!!!! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NANOOK BASKETBALL SUCCEED ONCE AGAIN. GOOD LUCK AND WELCOME COACH SMITH
Amazing. I can't wait to see what happens. I can imagine that I am not the only one surprised that he got the job over Al.
*grabs popcorn*
Surprised? Flabbergasted would be more appropriate. I guess the AD is bound and determined to put HIS stamp on the athletic department, and to Hades with what might actually be best for the program. How do you NOT take a coach with a proven track record, and more importantly, major ties to the community, over another unknown, untried individual. Apparently he learned nothing from the fiasco with the hockey program and his preposterous choice before Coach Ferguson...
To play devil's advocate--- How do you not take a coach like Coach Smith? Very proven coaching record. In my mind there were 3 very good choices for the coach. All 3 of them could have been selected. Obviously Coach Sokaitis had the local support, but the AD chose another path. I have a feeling this will work out. Much more positive with this one than with the men's program.
Too bad. I'm disappointed, but not surprised. I don't like the way the administration works. They get under my skin!
I DO think that Smith will be a very good coach.
But I think the administration is stubborn, and doesn't "hear" the community.
It would have been GREAT to see Al back here!
What we should be looking at is who we are depending on to make these decisions?!
I believe that the people making these decisions should have their own positions reviewed. Because this open, public, selection process is anything but!
The administration asked for input from the community and all they got was Al's cheering section of people who don't come to Girls Basketball anyway. The community didn't show up in numbers greater then 1 for any other candidates forum so who can blame them for not listening to an uninformed opinion.
Maybe Al was a good coach he was also divisive to the point of being disruptive to program. He burned his bridges why would they want him back? So he can whine and do it again.
Just so you know.... they did hear the community.
The players walked out of their meeting with Coach Smith and said 'that's our guy.'
If you had taken the opportunity to meet Coach Smith you would have gotten the same vibe I did.
Excitement. This coach is the real deal.
Look at his track record with Womens basketball. He will get it done and he will get it done quickly.
Once again ... good choice.
I wasn't going to take time off work to attend the public meetings. I have been a big supporter of Womens BB, have made donations to the program for several years, attended most of the games and I will continue to. Since I have no choice, I will support the new coach. But until next March, I will be go with the belief that this was another flubbed opportunity by UAF. In other words they did NOT hire the best coach! I really hope I'm wrong!!!!!!!!!
Go Nooks!
I have heard AMAZING things about coach Smith. In my opinion, and in many other community members' opinion, Coach Smith is the best hire the University has ever made!
UAFFAN22
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I only wish you were man or woman enough to include your name. You have been especailly critical of my husband on your blogs and if you choose to do that, it is simply cowardly to hide your identity. As for the whining that you attribute to Al, let me tell you what he got for all of his whining: He turned a part-time asst position into a full time paid position with benefits, he fought for and kept 10 full scholarships for the men's program, he turned the perenial joke of the Pac West into conference champions and NCAA contenders that were nationally rank. He built a basketball summer camp program with only a few kids his first year in Fairbanks to over 500 kids coming through every summer. He took UAF Nanook gear to every corner of the state including all the little villages that people who have lived their entire lives in Alaska have never ventured to. Al brought repectability to the UAF Basketball team and everyone knows it. If you don't like his personality well that's just the way it is. But please do not belittle his accomplishments. Darryl Smith looks like he has a very strong background and will probably do a nice job. Good luck to all of you in Fairbanks. I'm going to step out my back door and play some mosquito free golf. Oh by the way, my name is Terri Sokaitis......what is yours?
I can't wait to see where the program is in two years. Just look at what Coach Smith did at Metro State (DII). He is one of the best women's basketball coaches in the country...Congrats and good luck!
Terri: Absolutely spot on. Thanks for sharing. It's amazing how quickly locals forget all of the good that people do in this town. As you probably saw while you were here, it's unfortunately wide-spread here in Fairbanks...very judgmental. Al did an admirable job under difficult circumstances and truly turned lemons into lemonade. With no disrespect to any of his predecessors, I and many others will always view Al as the coach that turned UAF men's basketball around and truly took it to the next level. Good luck to you and Al.
Terri,
I didn't forget and neither did a lot of those kids that Al helped. You and Al helped a ton in the Fairbanks community. Now they can't figure out how to keep the TOW going! This is a Basketball state. I hear UAA is getting a new sports complex? Thanks for all you have done!
I think they screwed up again!
Good job Forrest!
Valerie, Carolyn, and Daniels
Dad
Coach Al has done great things for this community, but I'm glad to see a new approach, new direction, new leader. Terri is very brave for posting, defending her husband, but she is borderline emotional in this matter. Taunting an anonymous profiler simply because he is uber-critical of her husband, ... well, Terri, that is the life both you and your husband have chosen. You should know and have come to expect criticism at this level of college coaching.
Still, very brave. I liked Coach Al and wish him continued luck. For the record, I liked him, ...
Best of luck to coach Smith. Sounds like he impressed the lady Nanooks as well. Thats a big deal. He is a proven winner with girls BB.
As for Al, he will be fine and Im sure he will be coaching somewhere soon. I dont understand the "im going to go play some Mosquito free golf" by Terri. Was that a joke about Fairbanks? With that comment maybe its good Al wasnt chosen since Terri doesnt like our state bird. I jokes.
If Al would have stuck around with the mens team he would still be here. Lets not forget Brad Olsen and what he did for the mens team. In other words it wasnt all Al!
When your at the bottom,no place to go but up.Or stay there.
It does seem like the Administration wanted to show us whose in charge. No disrespect to Coach Smith but Coach Al was the better choice. Those of us who've watched him coach and followed the rise of Nanook basketball under his leadership won't be convinced otherwise.
Yeah, I am excited about this guy if only because he was selected over a proven winner, and someone who seemed to love Alaska (regardless of his departure).
Man, is Fairbanks afraid of outsiders or what? Just because coach DelCastillo turned into a fiasco at the end doesn't mean that hiring a non-local coach is oh-so-horrible. I'm sure Sokaitis would have done a great job as well, but unless you were in the interviews, you have no idea what impressions each candidate made on the athletic department and the team. There were five finalists, and they made it that far in the interview process for a reason; they're good.
"How do you NOT take a coach with a proven track record, and more importantly, major ties to the community, over another unknown, untried individual."
Okay, so proven to turn programs around... check
major ties to the community? ... not yet, but that doesn't mean that Smith won't
unknown? ... pretty much anybody who hasn't coached here before is going to be an unknown
untried? ... see point one
Perhaps Al should have never left. There is nothing wrong with having a new attitude in this town. I wish our new women's basketball coach the best of the luck. Fairbanks always prides itself on being such a "great" town, a "friendly" town. Well... why don't you all show it for a change instead of whining and sniveling.
I agree that Darryl Smith and Al Sokaitas were the top candidates. Frankly, I thought Al Sokaitas was the better candidate because of his proven commitment to the community and to Alaska basketball. On the other hand, Darryl Smith has some outstanding qualities as well, and I look forward to see what he will do to improve the UAF women's basketball program.
I was a little surprised at some of the negative comments by uaffan22 and some others. Community members who expressed support for Al Sokaitas were not an uninformed cheering section: on the contrary, that support was well earned. Anyone who has seen the work Al Sokaitas has done in the community and in Alaska's villages to promote Alaska basketball, to promote positive attitudes, and to challenge young people to excel, cannot help but be impressed by his sincerity, his ability, and his commitment as a coach and teacher. In any case, good luck and best wishes to Al Sokaitas - and to Darryl Smith. With both of them in town, basketball in Alaska is sure to be better.
You have a great coach in Darryl Smith. I have had the pleasure of watching his teams at Wichita State and at Butler County and you will enjoy his style of play and the effort of his players. You have many new fans in Wichita as we are all excited that Coach Smith is your new head coach. Go Nanooks and Shockers!!!!
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