Even as a coach who’s won three state championships during a coaching career that’s spanned five decades, Garry Smith will always look back on the 2022-23 basketball season as a special one in his life.
 
It won’t be because of the record his Hiawatha team has put up this season with the Red Hawks just 4-16 going into Tuesday’s Class 3A sub-=state quarterfinal against 18-2 Marysville. Though to be honest, there’s some satisfaction Smith feels in the way his team has persevered after losing two starters to ACL injuries before the season even began.
 
“We had a good summer and I thought it was going to be a nice year for us,” Smith said. “We had good kids and we still have good kids who are hard workers. I wish we could have been in tact because we could have done some stuff.”
 
Instead, the pride Smith has for this season is more personal. It’s about family, his family, in particular.
 
Not only is Smith still going strong, his three sons – Justin, Travis and Taylor – have joined him as head coaches in the state. This year marked the first year all four Smiths have been in charge of their own boys’ basketball program in Kansas.
 
Justin, his oldest son, is in his first year as head coach at Rock Creek. Travis, two years younger than Justin, is in his fourth season as head coach at Clay Center. Taylor, the youngest, is in his first year as head coach at Atchison County.
 
The Smith coaching tree has some branches.
 
“Obviously, I’m very proud,” Smith said. “The biggest thing is listening to them, both as a dad and a guy who’s coached as well, is how hard they work at it. All three of them. They really, really try to work at it and do a good job and that has to be where it starts.”
 

 
Garry said he never directly planted the seed in his sons’ minds to follow in his footsteps. At the same time, he never shut down their interests in choosing the coaching profession as well.
 
“I didn’t encourage it, nor did I discourage it,” he said. “Sometimes when that’s all you’ve been around, that’s all you are and that’s all you become. That’s the way it is. They’ve been around it their whole life and they don’t know anything else.”
 
Indeed, the sons to a man say their calling to the profession came early and they embraced it.
 
“It’s just one of those things where growing up, we were always around the game,” said Justin, who starred on Jackson Heights’ 2003 state championship team coached by Garry. “I remember being a little kid when he was in the state championship in 1992 at Baileyville and the kids rubbing my head before they went out and played in the state championship. It’s just one of those things that’s always been in our blood. We have these memories from following him around, playing for him and I can only speak for myself, but it got in my blood as a competitor and I always wanted to follow in that path.”
 
Travis agreed.
 
“When I was in college (at Ottawa University) and playing for coach (Andy) Carrier, I just felt like it was something I wanted to do and something that I enjoyed,” said Travis, who was a sophomore on Heights’ title team in 2003. “Growing up, I’d always helped out with camps -- youth basketball, youth football and things like that. It just seemed to be something I enjoyed, being around the kids, and I knew I wanted to be in education in some way. It led into something I felt like I had potential to be successful at some day.”
 
Five years younger than Travis, Taylor’s calling wasn’t immediate. After also playing collegiately at Ottawa, Taylor graduated with intentions of becoming a physical therapist.
 
Plans changed.
 
“Well, one thing led to another,” Taylor said of his change of heart. “I was always a part of the game, involved with it, coaching in the summer and seeing my two brothers coach. Eventually it was like, ‘Man, I think I could be a good head coach.’ So it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to do it and would enjoy it. It was like, ‘That’s me.’ It’s in my blood, man.
 
“It ended up working out and here we are.”
 
Garry also has a daughter, Jayna. And while she didn’t get into coaching herself, she’s married to one – Nemaha Central football coach Michael Glatczak, who just led the Thunder to the Class 2A state championship this past fall.
 
Needless to say, family get-togethers are pretty sports, and coaching, centric.
 
“There’s no shutting that down,” Garry said.
 

 
Growing up sons of a coach, not only did they see the highs their dad experienced, but also the hardships that come with the profession. But that wasn’t a deterrent in staying the course they believed suited them best.
 
 “A lot of it is you see all the positives that go with teaching kids, shaping kids and the impact you can have on their lives in a positive way,” Justin said. “Even through all the bad stuff you see, the impact you have every day being around the kids and the impact you make in their lives in the long term, you know that outweighs any negatives there might be with the job.”
 
Rarely a day goes by when one of the Smiths isn’t talking or messaging one another about any and all things basketball. From handling certain in-game situations, to scouting opponents to talking schemes, the boys are constantly learning from their dad and each other.
 
And Garry admits, he’s learning from his sons as well.
 
“With the technology today, they can pull things up on their phones or computer and find a set they like or scheme they like and they’ll share it with me,” he said. “I’ll see them run it and I’ll make reference to it as something I could use as well.”
 
The sons acknowledge that much of their coaching philosophy is derived from what they learned from their dad growing up and playing for him or coaching alongside him. At the same time, they’ve put their own stamp on their coaching styles through their own experiences.
 
“He’s always been a great resource but one of the things with me traveling all over, being so far away is I’ve picked up some things on my own,” said Justin, who began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Perry-Lecompton before spending time as head coach at Lone Jack (Mo.) and in Oregon for six years before returning to Kansas as an assistant at Rock Creek from 2020-22. “I still do a lot of things that he did – we’re up-tempo, we press and get up and down. That’s always something he was big on. It’s a philosophy I always thought was good and I’ve always used it. There are also some things I’ve thrown in there as well from my experiences as I’ve learned on the fly as well.”
 
Travis started his coaching career at Emporia with stints at the middle school and high school level as an assistant coach before becoming the head coach at Solomon in 2016-17. He left Solomon for an assistant job at Clay Center the following season before taking over the program in 2019-20.
 
“I’ve learned a ton from my dad,” Travis said. “Establishing the high expectations of how we were going to do things and what it takes to be successful, that’s a challenge. You establish relationships and build from there. It’s exciting but challenging at the same time.”
 
Taylor’s first coaching gig was as an assistant to Garry at Wetmore before moving to Rossville when Garry took the Hiawatha job. He landed the Atchison County job this season.
 
“It’s nice to have their philosophies, but it’s also nice to put your own spin on it,” Taylor said. “I never felt like I was living up to anything they’ve done. That’s what I appreciate about Justin, Travis and my dad. They never put any pressure on me to be like them. It was always, ‘You create your own identity. You create what you want your program to be. We did it this way, but you can do it a different way.’
 
“My dad’s one of the best guys around on talking not just Xs and Os but how to be a better man, a better coach and how to handle certain situations. After every game, I’m calling him about something, whether it’s a tough situation or asking him what he would have done in different situations. Same with my brothers. It’s pretty nice to have that support and the experiences they have.”
 
“It’s pretty obvious their foundation is over what I did,” Garry said. “They all have their own stamp on what they do, but it’s based on what they were taught to do and that’s pretty normal. It’s not just because I’m Dad. It’s just that’s what they grew up with and that’s how they’re going to do it.”
 
The last to join the “family business,” Taylor’s team is having the best season of the quartet. Atchison County is 13-7 and the No. 3 seed in the Class 3A sub-state at Marysville. 
 
“The expectations were high for myself and for them,” Taylor said. “Part of that as a head coach and being the first year, any team you have develops your personality and you hope it’s what you want to portray and that’s hard work, effort and competing really hard.”
 
Justin replaced long-time Rock Creek coach Jim Johnston as the Mustangs’ head coach this year. After going 9-13 last year, this year’s team is 12-8, the No. 8 seed in the Class 4A west bracket.
 
“They’re huge shoes to fill,” Justin said of Johnston, who won nearly 300 games in 19 seasons at Rock Creek. “Any time someone’s been at it that long and had that kind of success, they’re big shoes to fill. But he’s one of the best guys I’ve been around. He did everything he could to help me this year and last year. He is a great person to have around and he has never once made me feel like I have any pressure. He’s been very supportive.”
 
Now in his fourth year at Clay Center, Travis is still looking to get the program over the hump. The Tigers won nine games a year ago after winning nine games combined in his first two years. This year’s team is 7-13 and the No. 12 seed in the 4A west bracket.
 
“There’s tremendous families and kids here and most understand and believe in themselves that they can be successful in basketball and that it’s not impossible,” he said. “Some maybe have thought that it’s something that’s unattainable. But it’s not. It’s attainable. One step at a time and there is a recipe for success and it’s not a magic recipe. It’s hard work, believing in yourself and finding ways to get little wins along the way that lead to big wins down the road. I think we’ll get there eventually.”
 
As the regular season was winding down, Atchison County and Hiawatha were on a collision course to potentially meet each other in the sub-state quarterfinals – a scenario that quite frankly neither Garry nor Taylor were eager to see happen.
 
“I did not want that,” Garry said. “I didn’t want in that position with him or myself. If we’re both able to win our first game, we’d play and that would be interesting.”
 
And if that happens, Taylor said the only way to approach it was as business, not personal.
 
“I know the lead up would be a little different compared to other games,” he said. “But once the ball is tipped it’s just another game and we want everyone’s team to do well. It’s just another game but there’s no question that I’d want to beat him. Because we’re all pretty competitive.”
 
Justin and Travis already had that scenario play out. Rock Creek and Clay Center opened this season facing each other in Rock Creek. The game was tight affair from start to finish with Rock Creek winning in overtime on a last-second shot, 55-53.
 
“It was actually not that much fun,” Travis said, and not just in losing. “We both have a similar way of looking at things and we both passionately want to be successful. I knew it was going to come down to one possession. It was pretty stressful. I don’t think I talked to him for about month before the game.”
 
Justin agreed.
 
“It felt great to win it but then you know that you just beat your brother,” Justin said. “But it’s a thing where we’re both competitors and you have to put that aside when we’re playing. You have to separate that a bit and we’ll be in the same league here in two years and we’ll play each other twice a year. We help each other a lot when we’re not playing each other and it gets pretty quiet the week we are playing.”
 
Hiawatha had that night off and Garry and his wife, Kerri, were in attendance for the game. While Donna Kelce relished her sons Travis and Jason battling each other in this year’s Super Bowl, the Smiths did not share those sentiments.
 
“I told my wife I would never go to another one,” he said. “That wasn’t fun at all. You felt like you got to yelling for one team and then not the other. It wasn’t fun at all.”
 
With Garry on the backside of his coaching career, he’s left a legacy. He’s recorded more than 300 career coaching wins and won state titles in 1989 at Midway-Denton, 1992 at Baileyville and 2003 at Jackson Heights.
 
With the sons just starting their career, those are pretty big footsteps to follow.
 
“To be honest, I feel that pressure all the time,” Justin said. “It’s not anything he’s done. It’s the nature of myself. You’re always striving to be a state champion and achieve those goals that he’s already achieved. I’ve had some really good teams and we just haven’t gotten to that point yet. Hopefully in time, we build a program here that we’re able to do that.”
 
Travis agreed.
 
“I think it stems a lot from dad having the success he had in the different communities he was a part of,” Travis said. “Seeing it done and seeing it done well, and wanting that and having the desire to create that for ourselves. It’s pretty neat that we’re all doing it and I don’t know if any of the three of us will be able to have the success he had. But all three of us want to.”
 
For his part, Garry just wants each of his sons to enjoy the ride and not worry about living up to anything he’s accomplished.
 
“I’ve been fortunate and I’ve had my day in the sun, I guess,” he said. “To see them do well is great. And being around them and listening to them, they want to be even better. It’s real rewarding when you see them do well and it’s hard when you know they didn’t win a game they would have like to have won. I want them to see success over their lifetime because of how hard they work.
 
“Sometimes when you don’t know what that success looks like, it’s tougher. But when you know what it looks like, then the expectations are always high. That’s good. They’re going to have their day where they’ll be where they want to be and have the success they want to have.”