BUCYRUS (Crawford County Now) — Nate Smith was named the head coach of the Bucyrus boys’ basketball program in June.
Smith becomes the 47th coach in the 116-year history of Bucyrus basketball. Youthful exuberance and optimism allowed Smith to take the job despite the revolving door that is attached to the coach’s office.
He comes into the job with eyes wide open, having been the varsity assistant and junior varsity coach for outgoing mentor, Brian Hargis, for the past two years.
Rather than being soured on the state of Bucyrus basketball, — three wins in two years — Smith developed an entirely different viewpoint after getting to know the kids.
“Outside looking in, you don’t see many wins in the win column,” Smith said. “Looking at their work ethic, their personalities, and how much they cared about being on the basketball team made a huge difference.”
Smith cut his coaching teeth as a junior varsity coach and varsity assistant at Wynford, on the staff of his dad, Mike. So, he was well aware of the situation at BHS by proximity and by coaching versus the Redmen.
“These kids really want to be successful,” Smith said. “They might get a bad perception from outsiders, but at the end of the day, they’re still kids from Crawford County, like kids I coached at a different school down the road.”
With the lack of any real team success in recent seasons, it might be assumed that Smith would have to revive interest in the program. That is definitely not the case. Numbers are on par with the top programs in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.
“Right now, it looks like we’re going to have over 30 kids 9-12,” Smith said. “Our middle school numbers are fantastic. Seventh and eighth grade have double digit players on each team. And the future numbers situation is going to get even better.”
Smith noted that he had a particularly strong summer. He noted that every high school player went to the rugged Eastern Ohio basketball camp. And even better, due to tremendous community support, it was completely at no cost to the kids and their families.
The new coach has lofty goals but realizes it is a process to get to the pinnacle.
“Down the road, I want to be a very competitive program,” Smith said. “Hopefully, from Day 1, we’re a competitive program and we’re competing for those things Bucyrus hasn’t had in a long time.
“You think about a sectional championship. That’s something we should strive for. If we’re not accomplishing things like these, it would be a little disappointing.”
Smith noted that it has been some time since the Redmen were even modestly successful. The last coach to reach double digit wins was Tony Rose, who won 12 games in both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
The last league championship came in 2002-03 when Todd Martin’s squad won the North Central Conference title. Prior to that, Bucyrus won the Northern Ohio League championship in 1967-68 — dry spells on steroids.
“It used to be significantly harder for Bucyrus when they had really, really good teams,” Smith said. “They were in a much bigger division with only three divisions.”
Smith wants to make Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium a place where important basketball games are played.
“It would be awesome to hang some banners,” Smith said. “Right now, when you look up in the Kish, there’s a lot of empty space on the banners. Continuity and consistency would go a long way to accomplishing that.”
To that end, Smith doesn’t want to be another 3-and-out coach at Bucyrus.
“We don’t need someone to come in and only be here for a few more years,” Smith said. “We know that doesn’t work very well. We haven’t had much success doing that. I think the longest tenure coach in Bucyrus might be five or six years.”
His guess was close. Howard Nussbaum holds that dubious title, roaming the sidelines for seven years, from 1931-38 — eight decades ago! And only Bill Pace made it six years, from 1964-70, winning two NOL titles.
Though the bar is low, Smith wants to eclipse Nussbaum’s mark — by a lot. And he has a double incentive to stay, as his job of managing the Golf Club of Bucyrus gives him the latitude to pursue coaching.
“The importance of staying at Bucyrus is Priority No. 1 for me,” Smith said. “I don’t have much reason to leave or desire to leave. It would be hard to find the same job I have anywhere else because I love my job. I love the flexibility it gives me to coach basketball during the wintertime.
“I would love to be here for a long time. Selfishly, one of my behind-the-scenes ideas is to be the longest tenured coach in Bucyrus history. That’s the goal — to make this something we can be proud of for many years, not just two or three.”
Smith has the support, not only of the community, but also the administration, in particular Athletic Director Matt Makeever and Superintendent Bob Britton and he embraces their vision for all of the sports programs at BHS.
“Mr. Makeever and Mr. Britton are pushing the agenda of helping each other. Then all sports can be successful,” Smith said. “That’s been my message from Day 1 — supporting people right away rather than really worrying about my program only.”
If passion and enthusiasm are the barometer and can transfer to the players, Smith could be the one to finally change Bucyrus’ basketball fortunes. Though it’s a steep hill to climb, youthful vigor could overcome.
For Nate Smith, his dream might just be the new Bucyrus basketball reality.