Lyle Hilton Smith (March 17, 1916 – July 26, 2017)[3] was an American football and basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator.[4]
Biographical details | |
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Born | Steptoe, Washington, U.S. | March 17, 1916
Died | July 26, 2017 Boise, Idaho, U.S. | (aged 101)
Playing career | |
Football | |
1936–1938 | Idaho[1] |
Basketball | |
1936–1939 | Idaho |
Position(s) | Center (football) Guard (basketball) |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
Football | |
1946 | Boise JC (assistant) |
1947–1950 | Boise JC |
1952–1967 | Boise JC |
Basketball | |
1946–1947 | Boise JC |
Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
1968–1981 | Boise State |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 150–25–6 (football) 24–9 (basketball) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
Football 1 NJCAA National (1958) 13 Intermountain Collegiate (1947–1950, 1952–1954, 1956–1958, 1961, 1965–1966) | |
Lyle Smith | |
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Allegiance | United States |
Service/ | United States Navy |
Years of service | 1942–1945, 1950–1952 |
Rank | Lieutenant[2] |
Unit | Training |
Battles/wars | World War II, Korean War |
He served as the head football coach at Boise Junior College—now Boise State University—from 1947 to 1967 (except for military duty),[2][5] compiling a record of 156–26–6 (.846). Smith was also the head basketball coach at BJC for one season in 1946–47, tallying a mark of 24–9, and the school athletic director from 1968 to 1981. Boise was a junior college program during Smith's coaching career; it moved up to four-year status in the NAIA in 1968, NCAA Division II in 1970, Division I-AA in 1978, and Division I-A in 1996.
Born in Steptoe, Washington, to Burrell F. and Addie (Humphrey) Smith,[4][6] Smith's father and older brothers were ranchers.[7][8] Raised on the Palouse in Steptoe and Moscow, Idaho, Smith graduated from Moscow High School in 1934, after leading the Bears to consecutive state titles in basketball.[9][10] He initially attended the University of Idaho's Southern Branch in Pocatello[11]—now Idaho State University— for a year and then returned to his hometown to attend the University of Idaho, where he was a two-sport athlete for the Vandals, a center on the football team under head coach Ted Bank,[12] and a guard on the basketball team, coached by Forrest Twogood.[13][14] His teammates at Idaho included future coaches Steve Belko[14][15][16] and Tony Knap.[17][18]
During Smith's senior football season of 1938, the team went 6–3–1,[1] the Vandals' best record in over a decade; Idaho's last winning season in football for a quarter century[19] and the best until 1971. Idaho was 2–2–1 in Northern Division play in the Pacific Coast Conference and undefeated in the four non-conference games, including a 16–0 shutout in the season finale in Salt Lake City over undefeated Utah, winner of its conference.[20][21] The Vandals broke to an early 3–0–1 start and there was early talk of the Rose Bowl in the national press.[22] Smith received a bachelor's degree in education in 1939 and embarked on a teaching career.[23]
Smith taught and coached for a year at Firth High School in southeastern Idaho,[24][25] then married fellow 1939 UI graduate Maria Raphael[26] of Weiser in 1940 and returned to Moscow to work in private employment in auto sales.[24] He became head coach at Moscow High School in the spring of 1941,[27][28] when Babe Brown crossed town to coach the Vandal freshmen.[29] Smith entered the U.S. Navy in June 1942 during World War II.[30]
Smith served primarily as a physical training instructor, and returned to Moscow and completed his master's degree in education in 1946.[4] He was to return to the high school as head coach, but resigned in August[31] to accept an offer to be an assistant football coach at Boise Junior College, and became its head coach the following year. Riding a 31-game winning streak in 1950, the team moved into a new 10,000-seat stadium. With the outbreak of the Korean War, Smith missed all but the first three games of the 1950 season[5] and the entire 1951 season due to military duty.[2] He returned in 1952 and was a leading candidate for the vacant job at his alma mater Idaho in 1954, but withdrew his name from consideration, content at Boise.[32][33] Boise won thirteen conference titles in football under Smith and the NJCAA National Football Championship in 1958.[4]
Smith stepped down as head coach and became the school's first full-time athletic director in November 1967; the Broncos began competition as a four-year school in 1968.[34] He hired former Vandal teammate Tony Knap as head coach in December,[35] and Knap's successor Jim Criner in 1976.[36] Smith continued as head baseball coach through the 1973 season, then was succeeded by Ross Vaughn, a Ph.D. candidate in biomechanics and assistant coach at Washington State.[37][38][39]
Smith retired at age 65 in July 1981, succeeded by Mike Mullally of Cal State-Fullerton.[40][41] After just months on the job, Mullally resigned under pressure after a backlash at his new priority seating policy.[42][43] He was replaced in March 1982 by assistant Gene Bleymaier,[43] who stayed for nearly three decades. Smith was a key advisor during Bleymaier's first years as director.[44][45]
At the final regular season home game before his retirement as athletic director, the playing field at Bronco Stadium was dedicated in Smith's honor on November 8, 1980.[46][47] Boise State won the game over Nevada to secure the conference title and one of the four Division I-AA playoff berths in December. BSU won the opening-round semifinal over Grambling in Boise on "Lyle Smith Field" and the national title in Sacramento over defending champion Eastern Kentucky.[48] Smith turned 100 in March 2016,[49] and died in July 2017 at age 101.[50]
Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
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Boiser Junior College Broncos (Intermountain Collegiate Athletic Conference) (1948–1950) | |||||||||
1948 | Boise JC | 9–0 | 3–0[n 1] | N/A[n 1] | |||||
1949 | Boise JC | 10–0 | 5–0 | 1st | W Potato | ||||
1950 | Boise JC[n 2] | 3–0[n 2] | 2–0 | 1st | |||||
Boiser Junior College Broncos (Intermountain Collegiate Athletic Conference) (1952–1967) | |||||||||
1952 | Boise JC | 8–1 | 3–0 | 1st | L Bronco | ||||
1953 | Boise JC | 8–1 | 3–0 | 1st | L Bronco | ||||
1954 | Boise JC | 9–1–1 | 4–0–1 | 1st | L Potato | ||||
1955 | Boise JC | 7–2 | 3–0 | 1st | |||||
1956 | Boise JC | 8–0–1 | 4–0 | T–1st | |||||
1957 | Boise JC | 9–1 | 5–0 | 1st | L Potato | ||||
1958 | Boise JC | 10–0 | 4–0 | 1st | W NJCAA Championship Game | ||||
1959 | Boise JC | 7–2–1 | 3–1 | 2nd | |||||
1960 | Boise JC | 8–2 | 5–0 | 1st | |||||
1961 | Boise JC | 9–1 | 6–0 | 1st | |||||
1962 | Boise JC | 5–2–2 | 3–1 | 2nd | |||||
1963 | Boise JC | 5–3–1 | 3–2 | ||||||
1964 | Boise JC | 8–2 | 3–1 | 2nd | |||||
1965 | Boise JC | 9–2 | 4–0 | 1st | L Potato | ||||
1966 | Boise JC | 9–1 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
1967 | Boise JC | 6–4 | 2–2 | ||||||
Boise JC: | 156–25–6 | ||||||||
Total: | 156–25–6 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth |