Thursday, April 30, 2015
Dave Smart- Carleton’s Remarkable Coach
I have spent the last
few years south of the border during the basketball season called “March
Madness”. It is a time when many Americans start to wave the flag of their
favourite college basketball team. It is not necessary for a fan to attend the
school they support. In fact, there are many Kentucky Michigan
But it is a fine time
for all. Even President Obama’s selections in the Final 64 Pool are carefully
scrutinized. Several of the coaches in this year’s tournament have had great
success in the past, but none greater than John Wooden, who coached at UCLA.
Wooden led the Bruins to ten NCAA Championships, a number that will likely
never be reached by any other coach. In fact, several talking heads stated that
no professional or college coach will reach that number.
I disagree. This
year, the Carleton Ravens won their 11th National title, with Coach
Dave Smart at the helm. Now, of course, this happened in Canada
Smart played
university ball at Queen’s, and was a perennial all star. He played from 1991
to 1994, and set the all time school record for highest points per game career
average at 26.6. In 1992-1993, he became the only Queen’s player ever to lead Canada
Following his college
career, Smart began coaching. One of the teams he coached was called the
Guardsmen, out of Napanee. It was referred to as a “Club” team, and played
throughout Ontario and Northern New York
State
Smart began coaching
in 1997 at Carleton, as an assistant under head coach Paul Armstrong. He assumed
the head coach title in 1999. The victory this year was against the University of Ottawa Gee Gees
I recently spoke with
Dave about his remarkable basketball career, on the floor and on the bench.
“Every championship is different,” he told me. “They are not the same because the
kids are different.” Most college players in Canada
He experienced
another fine season this past year, but told me that he was having difficulty
motivating his players for the final games. An article appeared in the Toronto Ottawa
To paraphrase: “Our
ultimate goal is that, after the season, our guys will still want to play
basketball. We would like our players to have a personality on the court.” In
other words, he ripped Smart for his style. Smart’s players responded to the
criticism. “I have never seen a situation where the team was so motivated,
where one of our players was so dominant,” Smart told me.
Smart also benefited
from the fact that his sister sent her boys to play at Carleton: the Doornekamp
lads from Napanee. They stood almost seven feet tall, and had been handling
basketballs in their cribs! His nephew Robbie is now his assistant at Carleton.
I intend to share his
success with my American neighbours in the fall.
April 27, 2015
# posted by James Hurst @ 11:31 AM 
