Head Coach Terry Smith
Terry Smith has joined the Alma College Athletic Department as the new Head Men’s Basketball Coach. Coach Smith fills the position left vacant by the resignation of Ed Kohtala.
Smith graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S. in Physical
Education in 1984. After graduating, Smith got his start in coaching
when he was the boy’s basketball coach at Fulton High School while
working as a teacher at Ithaca High School. From there he moved to
Cedar Springs High School were he coached and taught and won his first
district championship in 1987.
The following year, Coach Smith got his first taste of coaching in the
college ranks when he was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Ferris
State University and was part of the team that won a GLIAC Championship
and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA DII Tournament.
After a year at FSU, Coach Smith left for Lake Superior State
University where he served for three years as an assistant coach before
being promoted to the head coach position in 1991. In five years time,
Coach Smith had turned around the LSSU program. In 1996 his team won
the first League Championship for LSSU since joining the GLIAC in 1978.
During this time, Coach Smith also earned his M.A. in Physical
Education from Central Michigan University.
Smith parlayed his success at LSSU into an opportunity to take over the
Grand Valley State University program in 1997. In his seven seasons at
GVSU, Coach Smith led his team to 110 wins and the 2001 League
Championship, his third in the GLIAC.
Following the 2003-2004 season, Coach Smith decided to take some time
away from college coaching to return to the high school classroom
taking a job at Hart Public Schools as an Assistant Principal/Teacher
and Varsity Men’s Basketball Coach. In his first year at Hart, his team
won more games than they had the three previous years and their 14 win
season ranked as the sixth most prolific in the past 42 years.
During his time at Hart, Smith also coached the Holland Blast, a professional basketball team in the IBL (International Basketball League). Continuing with his own education, Smith received his M.A.- Education Leadership Certificate from GVSU in 2005.
