By Justin Creech
InsideNova.com
Kevin Smith was the starting quarterback at Gar-Field High School for two seasons (1993, '94) before spending four seasons (1995-1998) as the starting quarterback at Towson University. Smith ranks fourth on Towson's career passing list and finished throwing for 7,746 yards and 45 touchdowns. He is currently in his first full season as the head coach at Woodbridge after taking over on an interim basis in the fourth game of last year.
Q: What was your experience playing for your football coaches in high school?
A: It was a great experience, they taught me a lot. I had never played quarterback before until my freshmen year when Coach Larry Bell asked me to play quarterback on the freshmen team and then from then on I played quarterback. I had never played quarterback until I got to high school, so basically I thank Coach Bell for putting me there. That helped me succeed in high school and helped me to play in college. Playing for Coach [Chuck] White and Coach [Tony] Labozzetta was great. All those great memories, and we were very successful there those two years and they helped me get to where I am today.
Q: How did Coach Bell make the transition to quarterback easier for you?
A: The first couple days of practice I went to fullback and linebacker and he told me the third day of practice to go to quarterback, and I was there from then on.
Q: You go out to play fullback and linebacker and then you're asked to play quarterback (at Gar-Field), so what was that like?
A: Well, my initial thought was I had never called a play before in the huddle and had never led a team as far as a quarterback is concerned, so it's a totally different experience as a player. Learning leadership skills, and calling plays in the huddle and all that good stuff, that was the toughest transition. I think playing quarterback and leading a team and playing quarterback in college helped me become a coach today. I think leading a team as a quarterback is the same as leading a team as a coach. So, it helped me transition into coaching very easily.
Q: Can you talk about some of the relationships you had with your teammates in high school and college?
A: They're long lasting and that's what I try to tell our guys every Friday night when we go out there. There are a lot of people that would kill to play on Friday night, especially playing in big atmospheres and big opponents and big games. I can still remember going to pregame dinner's with my friends and hanging out after the games with my friends and still keeping in touch and recalling a lot of memories on Facebook, or via e-mails and phone calls. It's a terrific feeling.
Q: How did your experience in high school prepare you to play football in college?
A: As the quarterback, it prepared me to take a leadership role, so when I moved to Towson I was fortunate enough to play right away and the same things developed. I was asked as a freshman to lead the team. I'm an 18-year-old freshman leading 21, 22-year- old seniors and it's an eye opening experience. But Coach White, Coach Labozzetta and Coach Bell gave me those leadership qualities. They instilled the leadership qualities in me that I was able to carry over into college and hopefully today being a head coach.
Q: Where has playing football helped you in other aspects of your life?
A: It's made me more organized and made me more ready for any adversity in life. Every Friday night there was always adversity. You always have to overcome adversity and that's what I try to tell our guys now. On Friday night there is going to be adversity. It's the team that overcomes the adversity that will succeed in the long run and I feel it's the same way in life. You know this year we started 0-3, but I didn't talk to our players about adversity on the football field. I talked to them about adversity in life. How are you going to react when a loved one loses a job and you have to feed your baby? How are you going to react when you have to pay that bill but don't have that job there because of the economy? I try to take football out of it and make it a game. It's a game that for four years they need to try to enjoy and have fun and I try to instill football qualities in life. The man that can face the adversity when it hits him square in the mouth is the one that is going to succeed in life.
Q: How many times did you hear a similar speech when you were playing football?
A: A lot. I heard it a lot in college. College was the main thing. [Then Towson head] Coach [Gordy] Combs taught me that a lot. He brings me in and says you have to face adversity. It's easy to face the good times, but what are you going to do when the bad times hit? How are you going to react?
Q: The last football game you played in: What was going through your head when the game ended?
A: Man, here comes life. I was undersized. I was only 5-foot 11 inches, so I knew as far as a professional career or anything of that nature it was probably farfetched. So, I just took the weekend to reminisce with friends and senior teammates about our careers, the good times and the bad times and when that Monday rolled around it was like here's life. What am I going to do? And I'll tell you if it wasn't for football in high school and college and if it wasn't for the coaches I had, you know it's like what everybody says: they're the people you look up to that you still go to. I still call Coach (Chuck) White every now and then and I ask him questions. I still see my college coach and I ask him about things. My position coach when I was in college is now the head coach, Rob Ambrose. I keep in touch with him and I ask him what do I do here? What do I do there? And that's not just football stuff; it's stuff about life. I hope one day that I have players that say the same things about me and come back and ask me questions. My main thing is making sure they succeed in life not just on the football field.
Q: How fortunate do you feel to have those relationships?
A: I think it's great and that's why I'm always instilling that in our players. I have players when I was an assistant that I coached two or three years ago and they come back and they say, 'Ya know coach I need this I need that and I appreciate everything you did for me,' and that's why you coach. You do it for those relationships. I'm very appreciative when they come back and see me and tell me I wish I would've listened to you here, or thank you for telling me this. It's very gratifying.
