Can't
get to the game? Don't worry, we've got ya covered.
Smith resigns as FHSU volleyball coach
11/20/2008
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Steve Smith's four-year tenure as the Fort Hays State University volleyball coach was often met with ire, criticism from fans, boosters, players and parents. Smith produced three losing records in four years, including a 14-match losing streak to end a 9-25 year this fall.
On Monday, Smith met with athletic director Curtis Hammeke and resigned from his position. Smith made the announcement to his players Wednesday.
"I tell you truthfully, it has been a hard road for us here," Smith said Wednesday afternoon. "It really has. From the very first day when I took the job, not only criticism in the paper, but actually a pretty nasty group of players and parents that really didn't want me hired and wanted me fired from Day 1. It's been a long hard road."
Smith finishes with a 44-82 record, including a 4-29 mark in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association the last two years.
"We mutually agreed that for the best of the program would be that I resign and I need to move on," Smith said. "...A lot of me would like to stay here and develop the program, but I think it is the right choice to bring in someone new."
This year, Smith, a West Coast product who was the longtime assistant coach at Western Oregon University, saw a seven-win dropoff from a 16-17 season last year.
"I thought a .500 winning percentage, given the schedule that we had was going to be a good year," he said. "I was really hoping for 18-16, maybe 19-15, but for us to be a 30-win program in this conference, it is not going to happen, or at least not this year with the personnel that I have."
Instead, Fort Hays went 2-18 in the conference and led the MIAA in attack errors (877).
Only one player, junior outside hitter Lilian Rezende, made all-conference.
"It was frustrating to watch how many points we generated for the other teams," Smith said. "We are a better than we were last year and I have heard that from I don't know how many other coaches in the conference, from people who have watched our team day in and day out."
"But from when it came to walking through the door and getting the victories that we needed, that is really what was frustrating," he added.
Smith said he took a "longterm" look at winning in the MIAA, a conference that placed six teams in the NCAA tournament this season. Five squads in the conference were ranked all year, a problem for the Tigers. Fort Hays never beat a ranked team in his four years.
"It could happen overnight depending on the philosophy of the coach and the athletic department or it could be another two or three years down the road if not more," he said. "The things that you are dealing, with, I think there are three elite programs that anyone in this conference is going to have a hard time getting over and that's based on their location, their size, their support they have and their success, Central Missouri, Nebraska-Omaha and Washburn."
According to Smith, all three teams, UCM, UNO and Washburn, are in urban settings with strong club programs. Other MIAA teams, including power Truman State (Mo.) University, are closer to club teams than Fort Hays is. The Tigers have struggled bringing in top-tier talent and don't have a strong high school club program as a recruiting base. Smith met with the players Wednesday to announce the change.
"I didn't really give them an opportunity," he said. "Maybe some of them expected it. No one really said a word."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |