Smith will help point the way up

April 21, 1999

Originally Published By The State Hornet (Sacramento State)

SMITH WILL HELP POINT THE WAY UP

By Mark Bryant

Like most Sac State sports followers, I was pleased to hear the announcement recently that John Smith, head baseball coach for the Hornets, will serve as assistant athletic director to Debby Colberg.

He brings a prodigious amount of winning experience and tradition to the job. The Hornets have suffered only five losing seasons since he became head coach in 1979.

During that period, Hornet baseball has been recognized as one of the more competitive programs on the West Coast. Smith has made good on his mission to build Sac State into a major Division I power by the dawn on the new century.

Their best days were probably a five-year period from 1988 to 1993 when they advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series (’88) and narrowly missed a spot Division I West Regionals three years in a row (’91-’93).

It is also the 10^th year that the baseball program has been in the Division I level.

This is Smith’s 21^st season as Hornets head coach, and it couldn’t be more fitting that he has been picked to assist Colberg in producing a winning athletic program.

Smith is, after all, a Hornet in every stretch of the name. He graduated from here in 1973 and served as a graduate assistant on the team that same year.

He resurfaced at Sac State six years later to take charge of a program that had had three different head coaches in three seasons and was floundering. His record since then speaks for itself.

Smith’s strong record as a recruiter and program administrator, including his status as a winning baseball coach makes him a most logical choice for the job.

Basically, Smith and Colberg have become institutions on campus where people such as them are rare in sports. They bring a combined 44 years of Sac State coaching to the table.

It is no coincidence that these people head two of our more successful sports programs.

And that, sports fans, is how you build a total program that is not only competitive, but also lasting.

It not only takes people in charge with a little know-how to build a winner in collegiate sports, it also takes bringing in people who know something about winning.

A winning program has to be constructed from top to bottom if it wants to succeed. Surprisingly; you won’t find many programs around the country that do that, which is why wins are so hard to come by.

Once, collegiate programs were a bastion of clean-cut spirit. Now, scandals and shenanigans have become commonplace. The rule seems to be cut as many corners as you can get away with as long as you get to the top.

Good programs make good decisions. Adding Smith to the lineup was a good one. Sac State has been “thumbs-down” on the field for a while, but Smith will help point the way up.