Catching up with Steve Smith

Caught up with Steve Smith earlier this week, and it doesn't take long conversing with this guy to see why Brad Brownell liked him. He's engaging, articulate, not too full of himself, and he thinks big.

Smith, who's been on the job for a few weeks, will meet with the media later this morning. We won't be able to attend that gathering (dang vacation) but here are some excerpts from our chat with him earlier this week:

TI: How far do you and Coach Brownell go back?
SMITH: "When you're in this business, you know each other from afar for quite a while. I knew him when he was at UNC Wilmington. And a guy I used to work for at USC-Upstate, Eddie Payne, was at East Carolina at one time and he was very fond of Brad. We weren't close, but I knew him. When he went to Wright State, I knew guys through him. Mark Byington is a good friend of mine.

"Now over the last two years, when he got to Clemson, we were basically in the gym a lot watching some of the same AAU teams and some of the same South Carolina kids. They were following Brice Johnson last year. I followed another kid on that team. So we ended up spending a good bit of time together then, sitting in gyms just getting to know each other a little bit. And when this job came open, there was a mutual interest about maybe coming together. And it kind of worked out. Some things had to happen, but it worked out."

TI: Crazy how the dominoes fall, huh?
SMITH: "Yeah, it is. When it first came open and James Johnson took the job, we spoke briefly about it and I knew James was the number one target -- already in the ACC, familiar with the league. I knew I was his second-list guy, so to speak. And then when James went back to Virginia Tech, it came back around and worked out for me. I think it worked out best for both parties."

TI: A lot of people who have worked for Brownell talk about the "brand" he has. What's your notion or definition of his brand, having watched him from afar?
SMITH: "I'll tell you like this, and you'll get to know me a little bit: I came up through the ranks. I didn't play high-level college basketball. I just wasn't born into a big-time family of basketball. I kind of worked my way through it, did the military thing and all that good stuff. So watching Coach Brownell, he kind of came up through the ranks the same way. And watching his teams play and the kids he recruits, he likes kids that understand no matter where you go in life you've got to work for it. And his teams play that way. That's why his teams always get better midway through the season. Because he continues to work and continues to get guys better. Watching him, that was very, very intriguing to me. He's an outstanding person. He wants to do things the right way. And obviously at this level in college basketball, there are a lot of people that don't necessarily do it the right way. And it was important for me to work for somebody that wasn't going to expect me to do anything I didn't want to do or wasn't right.

"So his brand was very important and it was very attractive to me. I'm a South Carolina guy. I've known Clemson basketball. I've known Clemson University as one of the highly respected academic schools not only in the state, but throughout the country. And when Coach Brownell got here, I thought he was a great fit. Because honestly, you've got to recruit a certain type of kid here to Clemson. A kid that is willing to do the academic work as well.

"When we spent time in the gym watching kids, I saw the type of kids he was watching. He was looking for not only talented kids, but kids that worked and kids that had the right demeanor on the court, had the right personalities, they were good with their teammates. Just talking to him, that stuff matters to him. And that stuff matters to me. I've turned down jobs in the past that have been more lucrative, better money. But I just didn't think I was a fit there. Because I'm not going to stray away from who I am. And I think I can do that here with Coach Brownell."

TI: I'm guessing that even though you want to recruit a certain type of player here, it doesn't exactly mean you're going to turn your nose up at some of the state's most highly regarded guys and you want to keep guys like Brice Johnson in the state. Is that correct?
SMITH: "Very correct. Brice Johnson was a highly-rated kid, but he was a kid that you recruit here because he was a Clemson guy. When I say a certain type of kid, we're not going to recruit a talented kid that's going to be high-maintenance and cause you more problems than good. We're going to recruit the highly-rated kids, especially out of the state of South Carolina. We're going to try to make sure we get those kids. But we're going to try to make sure those kids fit on and off the court. We feel we owe that to the university.

"There are a couple of kids in this state now that are highly rated throughout the country, and we're going to recruit those kids. In order to win at this level, you've got to have a couple of those kids."

TI: These new NCAA rules that allow coaches to conduct practices during the summer have allowed you to get a good look at the players on campus. What are your thoughts on what you've seen?
SMITH: "Not only do the NCAA rules allow me to get a look, but I think I'm a perfect fit here because Clemson's natural recruiting area is also my natural recruiting area. So I've recruited South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida before. And I think that's kind of Clemson's natural recruiting area. They go outside the area here and there, but I think that's our area. So I know a lot of the kids that are here already. I have relationships with them. Coming from Georgia Southern, I know Rod Hall very well. T.J. Sapp is a kid that I watched a year ago because I had another kid off the same AAU team at Georgia Southern. I watched the South Carolina Celtics when Devin Booker was there. Milton Jennings lived in Summerville, but he was originally from Colleton County which is one county over from Hampton County. When he was in the eighth grade, people called me about Milton Jennings. So I've seen Milt since he was in the eighth grade.

"To answer your question, I think this is a talented team. I think the backcourt is young but talented. The frontcourt players, I think we may have two ACC-level guys in the frontcourt. How good we're going to be this year depends on how quickly those young guards grow up with T.J. and Rod and (Devin Coleman) and those guys. I'm very familiar with the talent. I think we've got a chance to be pretty good, but I think it's going to depend on the maturity level of our backcourt."

TI: What was your sales pitch to Coach Brownell when you were up for the job?
SMITH: "I'm just like you. I told him, 'I'm just like you.' I said, 'Coach, I'm from South Carolina. I've read the articles where Clemson chose you. You weren't the most popular guy because you weren't coming from another BCS school. Clemson fans and alumni thought they needed somebody from a BCS school, but evidently the administration did the right thing and thought, 'We need the right guy who's a worker.' A job like this, an ACC-level job, you've got a lot of assistants from BCS schools trying to get involved. Maybe there were sexier names. But at the end of the day, who was the right fit? That was my sales pitch to him. I'm sure you saw some of the doubters when he was hired. I thought I was the right guy for some of the same reasons that he was the right guy. And I told him that."

TI: Did he make you promise that you wouldn't take a head coaching job two weeks after you took this job?
SMITH: (Laughs) "He did not make me promise that, but I tell you what: He's got a heck of a coaching tree going on right now. Limbs growing everywhere really fast. That's the best thing about it is his coaching tree is really taking off."

LW