Southwestern Pennsylvania is famous for turning out some of the greatest high school quarterbacks on the planet. Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Willie Thrower, Major Harris, Jim Kelly, Rod Rutherford, George Blanda, Charlie Batch, Fred Marshall, Tyler Palko, Johnny Unitas, Model “T” Ford, Joe Namath, Terrell Pryor and Terry and Harvey Smith.
Harvey Smith, former Gateway offensive coordinator, will become the first Black head football coach in Kiski Area history to pace the sidelines when the Cavaliers go on the road, Aug. 29 to play Bethel Park in the season opener for both teams.
“Harvey is an offensive guru. He’s done a great job with the offense at Gateway,” Terry Smith, brother and Gateway’s head football coach, said. “We been a scoring machine for six years. You look at the play calling in the championship game (against Central Catholic) and in the playoffs this year, and you can see what a talent he is in this game. We’re going to miss that. We’re extremely happy he’s getting the opportunity at Kiski.”
GATEWAY—In the front row holding a football is Gateway High School head coach Terry Smith, to his right is his brother, Harvey Smith, with the rest of the 2007 Gateway coaching staff.
Gateway, located 15 miles outside Pittsburgh, is a state of Pennsylvania powerhouse and one of the premier programs in the country. Since Terry and Harvey Smith took over in 2002, Gateway has been a recruiting hotbed for Division I colleges. The Gators currently have 44 graduates now playing college football.
Smith helped return pride to the Gateway program, installing some of the trademarks of legendary coach Pete Antimarino. The Gators marched from the locker room to the field in pairs as a team before and after games. There were daily mandatory study halls.
Antimarino preached the need for mental toughness and discipline. Will Harvey bring these same philosophy’s to Kiski?
“I was blessed with a lot of great coaches in my life, “ Smith said. “My first coach was my father Harvey Smith Sr., my high school coach Pete Antimarino. My college coach at WVU, Don Nehlen, my NFL coach, Don Shula, former coach of the Miami Dolphins. I coached under Joe Paterno at Penn State, Jim Tressel, Ohio State’s coach, Greg Schiano, Rutgers coach, Greg Gattuso at Duquesne. But the greatest coach that I have ever been around is my brother, Terry.”
“My No. 1 priority is to evaluate where the Kiski program is at and get to know all the players and then start installing some of the things we installed at Gateway, “ Smith said. “But it starts with a winning attitude. My expectations are high.”
Does Kiski have any talented African-American football players?
Bret Gunn, the brother of Pitt linebacker Adam Gunn, plays both safety and running back. He is being recruited by Pitt, Buffalo, Connecticut, Florida State, Ohio State, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia and Kent State is very high on his list.
“Adam Gunn and Scott McKillop, (the Pitt Panthers’ All-American middle linebacker who led the nation in tackles in 2007 is also a Kiski alum) has been a great help all summer,” Smith said. “Jeff Jackson has a chance to be a star receiver. Other than Corey Brown (Gateway), I can’t imagine that there is a better high school receiver around.”
Smith is mostly modest about his achievement, deflecting attention to his players and coaching staff. Smith, is one of only a handful of African-American head coaches in the WPIAL. Smith knows that, in some ways, he’s carrying a torch for Black coaches. That drives him to succeed.
It is at this moment that Smith realizes he is coaching for not just himself, his family and his team. Whether he likes it or not, he’s coaching for people who look like him.
In speaking about his expectations for his team, Smith said: “We are going to be a team where each person believes in himself, his teammates, his coaches and the people of this school. We will be a family that will dedicate ourselves to excellence, balance and growth. It is one of our main goals to make sure that these young men truly enjoy the high school football experience.
“It is our intention to build a team that will be physical and attacking on both sides of the ball, as well as on special teams. Not only will the experience be great for the players, but we will entertain the students and the fans as well,” Smith said.
From a schematic standpoint, Smith and his staff’s primary focus will be to improve the team’s defense. To help its cause, Kiski Area will take the field with a new defensive alignment, as well as a new defensive coordinator, Toby Mitchell.
Kiski’s defensive backs will feature speedsters, Gunn, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds, Jeff Jackson and Tarique Godson.
“Me, Danny Meighan, Jeff Jackson and Tarique Godson all ran track to stay in shape for football and we won the gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay at the WPIAL championship,” Gunn said. “Opposing teams might not expect much from us, but we have high hopes for this year’s team.”
Twenty-five years after quarterbacking his last high school game, Harvey Smith still knows how to execute a winning game plan.
His advice for youngsters dreaming of coaching one day? “Find a sport that is right for you, stick with it like a postage stamp, be patient. You will go through a lot of success and failure, but like a postage stamp stick to it until you get there,” he said.
“The people who make it never quit. Only the strong survive. It’s the law of nature.