11-19-2011, 12:32 PM
While chances are pretty good that the Dixie Heights girls' basketball team won't make it to the Sweet 16 State Tournament this season, if it somehow does then first-year head coach Tara Smith is likely going to face quite the dilemma.
Smith, a former standout player as Tara Boothe at Highlands and Xavier University who is in her first season after replacing Andy Elkus as head coach, is due to give birth to her second child on March 9 and the Sweet 16 is scheduled for March 7-10.
"Not very good planning, huh?," Smith asked rhetorically.
It may not have been, but Smith has been planning to be a basketball coach for quite some time, albeit initially wanting to coach at the college level.
After graduating from Xavier in 2006, Smith, 27, served as an assistant at the University of New Hampshire from 2007-10, then the decision to start a family - son Austin was born in May 2010 - steered her back toward coaching in high school where she spent last season as an assistant at Highlands.
"After three years at the college level I was definitely ready to get back in the high school ranks," said Smith, who scored over 2,000 points in her high school career and graduated Xavier as that program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder (a record that has since been broken). "I think when I had my son it made it a little easier on making that choice. I like being in one location and being close to the family. Last year when I was at Highlands I knew I would prefer to do something like this."Now though she is in charge of turning around a program that hasn't made the Ninth Region Tournament since the 2007-08 season and she is trying to do that in her first head coaching stint.
"It's definitely an adjustment," said Smith. "It is different in the sense that the responsibility lies on your shoulders, but in the same sense so far basketball is basketball it's doing the same things. I think it's a good opportunity. It's a place where the administration wants to be successful. Their support is phenomenal. We have the talent here to be successful. It's just placing people in positions to be successful. There are kids that want to win."
One of those is senior guard Meredith Hartfiel, who was selected to the Northern Kentucky Coaches Association Division I All-Stare team last season. Hartfiel says the fact Smith is former player and her attitude has already helped with adjustment.
"I think she just relates to us in a better way and brings in a different atmosphere- she doesn't mess around," said Harfiel, whose father is friend's with Smith's father and says she remembers watching her play at Xavier. "I think we greatly appreciate the feedback she gives us as a former great player."
Dixie started last season 6-0 and was 8-1 before eventually losing 12 of its 14 games. Smith said it's her job to get the players buying into being consistent every day, starting in practice.
"I think more than anything a lot of times it's a mentality of going in and understanding it doesn't matter who you are playing whether it's the No. 1 team or the worst team, you have to play the same way," said Smith.
Smith, a former standout player as Tara Boothe at Highlands and Xavier University who is in her first season after replacing Andy Elkus as head coach, is due to give birth to her second child on March 9 and the Sweet 16 is scheduled for March 7-10.
"Not very good planning, huh?," Smith asked rhetorically.
It may not have been, but Smith has been planning to be a basketball coach for quite some time, albeit initially wanting to coach at the college level.
After graduating from Xavier in 2006, Smith, 27, served as an assistant at the University of New Hampshire from 2007-10, then the decision to start a family - son Austin was born in May 2010 - steered her back toward coaching in high school where she spent last season as an assistant at Highlands.
"After three years at the college level I was definitely ready to get back in the high school ranks," said Smith, who scored over 2,000 points in her high school career and graduated Xavier as that program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder (a record that has since been broken). "I think when I had my son it made it a little easier on making that choice. I like being in one location and being close to the family. Last year when I was at Highlands I knew I would prefer to do something like this."Now though she is in charge of turning around a program that hasn't made the Ninth Region Tournament since the 2007-08 season and she is trying to do that in her first head coaching stint.
"It's definitely an adjustment," said Smith. "It is different in the sense that the responsibility lies on your shoulders, but in the same sense so far basketball is basketball it's doing the same things. I think it's a good opportunity. It's a place where the administration wants to be successful. Their support is phenomenal. We have the talent here to be successful. It's just placing people in positions to be successful. There are kids that want to win."
One of those is senior guard Meredith Hartfiel, who was selected to the Northern Kentucky Coaches Association Division I All-Stare team last season. Hartfiel says the fact Smith is former player and her attitude has already helped with adjustment.
"I think she just relates to us in a better way and brings in a different atmosphere- she doesn't mess around," said Harfiel, whose father is friend's with Smith's father and says she remembers watching her play at Xavier. "I think we greatly appreciate the feedback she gives us as a former great player."
Dixie started last season 6-0 and was 8-1 before eventually losing 12 of its 14 games. Smith said it's her job to get the players buying into being consistent every day, starting in practice.
"I think more than anything a lot of times it's a mentality of going in and understanding it doesn't matter who you are playing whether it's the No. 1 team or the worst team, you have to play the same way," said Smith.