Coach Smith with seniors Nick Williams (two-time State Champ) and Carter Happel (four-time State Champ)

Credit for photo: Carolyn Kilburg, C & J Studio, Lisbon

I still remember hearing the news in the spring of 1978 that Coach was leaving.  To a twelve year old kid from Lisbon, it was shocking news.  “Coach” was Al Baxter who had just led Lisbon to their fifth State Title in six years and had put Lisbon on the map for wrestling.  How could anybody come in and replace Coach?  As the saying goes, timing in life is everything.  A recent interview with my former coach Brad Smith proved to show just that.

I asked Coach Smith how he had heard about the job opening at Lisbon:

“Al was pretty much in charge of finding his own replacement and he called Iowa Wrestling to see if they had anybody that would be interested.  When he called J Robinson in March of 1978, I just happened to be sitting in the office talking to J.  If I would not have been in his office at that exact time, I may not have pursued the job or even have known about it.”

After an interview with Baxter, Smith was then offered the job by administrators and took Lisbon Wrestling to another level.  I would say that everything has worked out pretty good for Coach Smith as he just completed his thirty-eighth year of coaching.  With seven Traditional State Titles won at Lisbon and three more at City High, Smith is one title behind Bob Siddens of Waterloo West for the all-time record in Iowa High School Wrestling history.

When asked about the transition when he took over an already successful program, Smith commented:

“I was confident that I could take Lisbon to another level.  Al and I agreed in the interview about the importance of work ethic and outworking opponents, but I emphasized more of the technical aspects.  When I started, there were plenty of times when wrestlers told me that Baxter didn’t have them do something that I did.”

Smith had plenty to be confident about.  He had just graduated from the University of Iowa where he was an NCAA National Champion at 142 lbs. in 1976 and was a member of the first two NCAA National Championship teams in Iowa Wrestling history.  With the coaching influences of Hall of Fame Coaches Gary Kurdelmeier, Dan Gable, and J Robinson on the Iowa  Wrestling staff (Wow, what a staff!), Coach Smith definitely had the background.

Coach Smith was a two-time State Champion and two-time First Team All-American in Wrestling (1971, ‘72) at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, IL where he was also All-State in baseball twice and football once.  In 1973 he was a Junior Olympic National Champion and placed third in the 1973 Junior World Freestyle Championships.

Coach Smith was a wide open type of wrestler at Iowa who put up big point totals that was uncommon for the 1970’s that were dominated with much more mat wrestling than you see today.  I remember the shock us Lisbon people felt the first time we saw Coach Smith have a Lisbon wrestler intentionally release an opponent.  Giving escapes to go for takedowns to win a match was a shock for that era of Iowa High School wrestling, at least around here.  I do not remember other programs doing that before Lisbon did in the Smith era.

“Al definitely did not leave the cupboards bare.  My first year we placed second.  Lisbon had a very solid program from the varsity level on down to the kids program.  For my first seven years, I kept the tradition that Al had done by being the only coach for High School and Junior High with no assistants and also led the kids program.”  

Coach Smith went on to lead Lisbon to seven Traditional State titles in 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, and 1990 and to Dual State Titles in 1987, 1988, and 1991.  After the 1991 season, Coach Smith left Lisbon to coach at Iowa City High for the next twenty-one seasons.  At City High, Coach Smith won three Tradition State titles (1992, ‘99, ‘02) and two Dual State titles (1999, ‘02).  Coach Smith was named as the National Coach of the Year in 1990 and 2013 and is a member of the Lisbon Athletics Hall of Fame, Glen Brand Hall of Fame, Illinois Wrestling Hall of Fame, and National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Coach Smith has had five wrestlers go on to win National Titles in College.  Royce Alger won two D-I titles at Iowa, Jeff McGinness (City High) won two D-1 titles at Iowa, Greg Butteris was a Junior College National champion at North Idaho, Jamie Kamberling won an NAIA National title at Western Montana, and Brian Stewart won a D-III title at Buena Vista.

Coach Smith returned to Lisbon for the 2013 season.  When asked about bringing Lisbon back to title contention, Smith commented:

“Having Carter (Happel) and Nick (Williams) has been a huge boost.  They did a lot for the program.  Also on my coaching staff, I have six assistants.  Five of them were State champs for me at Lisbon that won a total of ten State titles.”

The staff consists of former Lisbon State Champions Shane Light (4-time), Dean Happel (3-time), Greg Butteris, Brian Hall, and Jeff Clark.  Joe Kilburg is also an assistant on the staff.

For his coaching career, Coach Smith has had 249 State Qualifiers, 135 State Placewinners, and 47 State Champions to go along with a career Dual Meet record of 549-197.

Several new records and milestones were reached this past season for Lisbon Wrestling.  When Carter Happel won his fourth State title, Lisbon became the first school to have three four-time State Champions.  Coach Smith has now coached a State record four four-time State Champions in Scott Morningstar, Shane Light, Jeff McGinness (City High) and Carter Happel.  Happel and Williams also became the winningest classmates in Lisbon Wrestling history.  The six combined State titles for Happel and Williams is a record for Lisbon Wrestling and they also became the first two sophomores to win a State title in the same year for Lisbon.

And just to be sure that even though second place is a step up, it is never the goal for Coach Smith or Lisbon Wrestling:

“Our goal every year is to win the State Title.  We have the second most points coming back in 1A.  Even though we have a lot of points to replace, we have some good wrestlers coming up.  It is always about winning the State Title.”

With one title to tie and two to set the all-time record for State Titles won by an Iowa High School Wrestling coach, I really hope that Coach Smith can bring in a couple of more titles to Lisbon.  Making and chasing history.  I guess it comes down to timing.  I’m sure glad Coach Smith was in J Robinson’s office that fateful day in 1978.