Lakeridge's Tom Smythe leads staff that boasts experience, record of success
November 12, 2009 Lakeridge High School
Jerry Ulmer, The Oregonian, October 27, 2009 6:17 p.m. Lakeridge's new coaching staff looks more like the high school football version of "Space Cowboys."
Five of the coaches have at least 25 years of coaching experience: head coach Tom Smythe (49 years), defensive coordinator Craig Nicholas (26), assistant Gene Yerabek (39) and freshman coaches Royce McDaniel (48) and Ed McQuary (40).
"I'll tell you what, our coaching staff would be a great Grecian Formula commercial," Nicholas said. "There's an awful lot of gray hair. I've figured out that, No. 1, you respect gray hair, and No. 2, you listen to it."
Smythe said he went looking for gray hair when he accepted the challenge of returning to the Pacers. He built the team into a power in the 1980s but it had fallen on hard times, finishing 1-8 last year, the worst record in school history.
"I want people that have been through it, that on game nights, something happens, they've been there, they're not going to panic," Smythe said. "That just comes from experience. I'm a better coach than I was 10 years ago. And I'm way better than I was 20 years ago."
The staff has had more than its share of success.
Nicholas assisted Smythe on McNary state title teams in 1997 and 2001 and coached McNary to the baseball state title in the spring. Yerabek won four state titles during his career in the Seattle area.
McDaniel coached Lakeridge's baseball and girls basketball teams to state championships in 1974 and 1991, respectively. And McQuary won 36 games in five seasons as the coach at Banks (1972-76).
Still, turning around Lakeridge (2-6, 1-3 Three Rivers League) has been a difficult chore. The Pacers, outscored by an average of 27.7 points last season, have a 16.8-point average deficit this year.
The team lost six in a row before a 34-7 win over Putnam on Friday. "Even though the layman in the stands probably couldn't see us getting better, we were," Smythe said. "Even in our six straight losses, you could see improvement all over the place."
Lakeridge has four sophomores starting full time and two part time. The offensive line starts four juniors and one sophomore.
Sophomore quarterback Tommy Knecht made his first varsity start against Putnam and completed 20 of 24 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns. The 6-foot-2 Knecht also ran for two scores.
"He's going to be the real deal," Smythe said. "He's very accurate, very smart, and he sees things."
The lower levels of the program show promise. The freshman team, with 31 players, is 4-2. The junior varsity is 1-5, partly due to the large group of sophomores on the varsity.
The varsity has struggled because of the inexperience of the older players.
"They haven't played much," Smythe said. "Our seniors, I just wish I had them for four years. They're good kids and pretty good players, but it's taken them a long time to figure out how to prepare to win. And to their credit, they've hung in there."
The season has marked a reunion for Smythe and Nicholas. Their teams at McNary won five league titles and two state championships from 1995 to 2006.
Nicholas teaches at McNary in Keizer and commutes to Lake Oswego. He carpools with assistant coach Luke Atwood, a former McNary quarterback (1997 graduate) who played on Smythe's semi-pro team in Austria and assisted at McNary for six seasons (2002-07).
It's a long commute, but coaching with Smythe makes it worthwhile for Nicholas.
"If you can't sit back and understand that he's one of the best coaches in the history of the world, then something's wrong," Nicholas said. "Tom kind of taught us how to win down here, and sooner or later, that's what's going to take place at Lakeridge, also."
Said Smythe: "The journey is always what I've enjoyed about a season. When you look back on where you started, it's so satisfying. And this is going to be the same thing."
- Jerry Ulmer: jerryulmer20@yahoo.com |
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