Smith hired to lead Fort volleyball program (06/07/06)

FORT RECOVERY — Brad Smith started as a club volleyball player in high school and college.

He’s played the beach game for 15 years.

His son is named for one of the best athletes in the history of the sport.

It’s that passion that led Fort Recovery to choose him as its next coach.

Smith, 34, was approved unanimously as the Indians’ new varsity volleyball coach at Tuesday’s meeting of the Fort Recovery School Board. He takes over the program from Jackie Briscoe, who announced her resignation in March.

“There’s no doubt that he has a real passion for what he wants to do for our program,” said principal Ed Snyder of Smith. “He has a good vision of that.

“He has a tremendous knowledge and passion and ability to teach the game.”

Smith was selected from a field of three finalists by a committee which included Sndyer and FRHS athletics director Barb Sautbine. As is the case with all Fort Recovery coaches, he is on a one-year contract.

He brings several years of coaching experience with him, having led Gibsonburg to a 30-5 combined record in the 2001 and ’02 seasons. He also was the head coach at Patrick Henry, where he won a district title, for one year. He started his career as a freshman coach at Defiance.

Smith dropped out of coaching when his son, Sinjin — named after star beach volleyball player Christopher St. John “Sinjin” Smith — was diagnosed with a terminal illness in 2002. But Sinjin, now 4, has had no further problems after undergoing surgery that year.

Now ready to return to coaching, Smith said he and his wife, Molly, were attracted to the Fort Recovery community as much as the job.

“Education is important to me,” said Smith, quoting FRHS’s 98.9 percent graduation rate. “That kind of leads you to want to take your child there. It’s a full-circle as far as the school as athletics and education.

“As a coach the (Midwest Athletic Conference) obviously is the No. 1 level of competition. Any time you have the opportunity to coach in probably the best Division IV conference in Ohio you have to take that opportunity.”

Fort Recovery athletics director Barb Sautbine said she was most impressed by Smith’s “willingness to work really hard with the team and his desire to take a team to the next level. He’s just so enthusiastic. He has such a passion for the game.”

He takes over for Briscoe, who posted a 59-35 record in her four seasons leading the Tribe. A 1998 FRHS graduate, she chose to leave the program for family reasons.

Smith said he plans to continue building for the future by following Briscoe’s youth program, which starts players in the third grade. He will keep the summer schedule she has planned leading up to the start of the high school season in late August.

He said he hopes to take the current squad, which will return six seniors, to the next level. The team has struggled to get beyond the sectional round of the tournament in the brutal MAC bracket, which sent teams to the state championship match in 2002, ’03 and ’04.

He said he will use a fast-paced offense and stick with the type of coaching which has made him successful in past coaching stops.

“My philosophy is simple,” Smith said. “I will play not the best players, but the best team players and those who work the hardest. That’s kind of the rule I live by.”

Smith planned to move to Fort Recovery from Defiance, Ohio, with his family today.[[In-content Ad]]