Head Coach Terry Smith
Terry Smith took over as the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Alma College in the summer of 2007 and is in his third season working to rebuild the once highly competitive program. In his first year with the Scots, Coach Smith instilled his work ethic and style of play and had his team close in almost every game they played and last season, the team made even greater strides."I am really looking forward to the 2009-10 season,” said Smith. “I believe we made progress last year, maybe not in terms of wins and losses, but in the way we started to continued shape our program and put our system in place."
The Scots are predicted to finish seventh in a preseason poll of MIAA coaches, but Smith believes brighter days are ahead with the infusion of new blood to the roster. A very large freshmen class joins the roster and they could make an immediate impact and with some key returnees, 09-10 could be an interesting year for the Scots.
"Our freshmen class will be very important towards us getting better. We have some fine recruits coming in who have been working hard," Smith said. "Depth was an issue last year and I think the added depth we have now is going to help us become a better team."
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.
