Anderson Independent Mail -- Paul Strelow
As Dick Smith watched coverage of John Wooden�s death, he considered it symbolic.
Another iconic old-school coach has said his goodbyes.
Smith is out as T.L. Hanna�s boys soccer coach, having been fired after he declined to resign last week from the program he founded 32 years ago.
�I don�t think my coaching was in question, and I don�t think my character is in question,� Smith said. �It would have been nice to walk out on my own terms from what I consider my program.
�But I had a great run. There are a lot more positives than negatives.�
Smith has been replaced by the school�s girls soccer coach, Craig Joyner, coincidentally a sophomore starter on Smith�s first T.L. Hanna squad in 1978.
Katelyn Whitaker, the Yellow Jackets� JV girls coach the past two years, has been named interim girls varsity coach. Whitaker is uncertain whether she will return to the school, athletics director Kenya Fouch said.
While the wheels for Smith�s exodus might have begun in motion last year when he lost his teaching job and entered retirement, the 59-year-old said he was blindsided by the move.
Smith was informed of the decision Wednesday, the day after the team�s postseason banquet. Fouch suggested he �wanted to go in a different direction,� Smith said.
Said Fouch: �We decided it was time for a change. We told him things might have gotten a little stagnant, and we thought it was in the best interest of the kids and the right thing to do.�
The credibility of Smith�s overall body of work goes without dispute.
This season, he was believed to have become just the fifth soccer coach in state history to record 400 career victories. He was among the first five inductees named to the South Carolina High School Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and he was inducted into the S.C. Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame last July.
His boys teams won two state titles � 4A in 1980, 3A in 1996. In his 32 seasons, the Yellow Jackets went 400-251-13.
However, T.L. Hanna has posted three consecutive losing seasons, going 8-13-1 this past year while dropping nine of its last 10 matches entering the playoffs.
Smith also admitted to having �some run-in disagreements� with administration in the recent past but said they were ultimately handled professionally.
�I told (Fouch) I thought they were making a mistake,� Smith said. �If I didn�t think I could still get it done, I promise you I would have stood up and said so.�
Smith said the program could not have been passed into better hands than those of Joyner, who has positioned the school�s girls team into annually one of the top five squads in the state.
Joyner went 54-16-4 in three of seasons as the girls coach, winning the region and reaching the state quarterfinals each year.
�This is my dream job,� Joyner said. �I consider it one of the best jobs in the state, and Dickie Smith made it that way.
�This is a soccer-rich area, and the boys want to do better and are excited about returning a good senior class.�
Smith, who has spent 35 years at T.L. Hanna all together, was given the job at its inception by longtime athletic director and football coach Jim Fraser for no other reason than it was mandated every faculty coach had to work with two different sports.
Seven years later (1985), he got the girls program off the ground as well.
T.L. Hanna principal Sheila Hilton declined to speak to the reasons for Smith�s departure specifically, saying only she makes all personnel decisions with the students� best interests in mind.
�We honored Dickie several different ways this year, and his record, I�m not sure anyone in the state could top it,� Hilton said.
Renko writes:
Coach Smith was old-school, he expected the best from his players, on the field and off the field and the success shows. He was tough but he loved his players and it is a shame after giving 32 years of your life to one school, he couldn't go out in a better way. Coach Smith - thanks for all the lives you touched and changed.
