Jim Smith, shown here talking strategy with his Chargers, saw his team go 10-11 this season. The popular Smith has been at the helm of the Chantilly boys since 1991.
Jim Smith, head coach of the Chantilly High boys’ basketball team, recently reached a milestone in his coaching career as he won his 400th game.
Smith has been coaching high school basketball in the Fairfax County area since 1988, starting with three seasons at Mclean High School and then moving to Chantilly High where he has remained since 1991.
He says he feels fortunate having had the opportunity to coach for so many years.
“The key has been having players buy into the system you are teaching and then play extremely hard,” said Smith, who led Chantilly to a Northern Region crown two years ago. “At both Chantilly and Mclean I had players who did just that.”
Mr. Smith also gives credit to the assistant coaches he has worked with over the years.
“You need quality assistant coaches to help you implement your system,” he said. “I have had more than my share of great assistant coaches.”
One of whom, Chris Dux, has been with him at Chantilly for over 15 years.
Aside from winning 400 games, Smith has also managed to make friends among his players. Rusty Payne, who played with him between 1988 through 1991 at Mclean High School, remains a close friend to this day. “We experienced a great deal of success under his leadership that the basketball program had not experienced up to that point for many, many years,” said Payne, of the years as a basketball player at Mclean over 20 years ago.
“I will always be grateful to Coach Smith for the opportunities he gave us to succeed on the court, for the things he taught me and teammates, especially about persevering through adversity and having a commitment to excellence in everything that you do.”
Mr. Payne also traces the success he has had in his personal life, with a wife of 15 years and three kids, and with his successful public affairs career, to the things Coach Smith taught him as a high school basketball player.
Payne added that in persevering and battling through challenges in life, Jim Smith is a great example of how to do that.
Smith’s wife, Becky, passed away in May of 2010, but the coach has continued to persevere in his profession and is a wonderful example to those he coaches and teaches.
In sports there are always going to be ups and downs, but Jim Smith has managed to stay successful during many years and has reached a milestone few coaches in any sport manage to reach during their career.
And on top of that, he is and has been able to teach his players lessons about dealing with adversities and challenges in life - lessons that they benefit from long after they graduate from high school. Rusty Payne is proof of that.