Smith to take climb up Mt. Zion
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| Dave Smith will be pointing south to Mt. Zion, where he was named Monday as the new head football coach of the Mt. Zion Braves. He leaves Princeton after four seasons. (BCR file photo) |
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PRINCETON — The curtain has been drawn on the Dave Smith era of Princeton Tiger football.
Smith has accepted the head coaching job at Mt. Zion High School in central Illinois and will be resigning as head football coach, assistant principal and athletic director at Princeton. Mt. Zion athletic director Mike Mose said Monday morning he would be taking Smith’s name for board approval at Monday’s special school board meeting in Mt. Zion and later confirmed Smith’s hiring Monday evening.
“Dave Smith has been hired as varsity football coach and will teach power training and athletic PE,” Mose said.
Smith, who could not be reached for comment, met with the PHS coaching staff Monday afternoon and is to meet with the PHS players today, Tuesday.
The Mt. Zion job opened last month when Tim Nolen resigned after 14 years to take over the head coaching job of Apollo Conference rival Robinson, Nolen’s hometown.
When Smith came to PHS in May of 2004, he told the BCR he just wanted to carry on the Tigers’ tradition.
“The kids are going to continue to do things right, all the time. Family’s first, education’s second, football’s third,” he said.
In four seasons at PHS, Smith’s Tigers went 12-23 (.343) and 8-12 in NCIC conference play. His best season was 2005 with a 4-4 record shortened by one game due to a scheduling mishap with Chicago Collins. The Tigers went 4-1 in the NCIC Southwest, falling to Hall the NCIC championship game.
Also on Smith’s watch, PHS went 3-6 in 2004, 4-5 in 2006 and then 1-8 in 2007, his last season, with the lone win coming in Week 6 over Kewanee.
Smith compiled a 50-22 record from 1997-2003 at Burlington Central, with four straight playoff appearances. It was that successful track record that left Mt. Zion believing it had found their man.
“He had a solid record at Burlington Central,” Mose said. “We felt he’d able to step in and keep the program going and possibly take it to the next level.”
Mose said Smith’s attention for multi-sport athletes was also a plus.
Burlington Central won its first 11 games in 2003, losing their first game to Addison Driscoll in the 3A quarterfinals. That loss marked the third time Smith’s BC teams were knocked out of the playoffs by Driscoll, eventual state champ each year.
Smith, 46, has coached football for 23 seasons, including stops at Eureka College and Aurora University as well as Lake Park, Algonquin Jacobs, St. Charles, Genoa-Kingston, Burlington Central and Princeton high schools.
Smith and his wife, Sharon, are the parents of four children, including football players Matthew, who will be a senior, and Jacob, an incoming sophomore, and two daughters, Michelle, 14, and Emily, 2.
At Mt. Zion, Smith will inherit a program with similar successes as Burlington. The Braves won five Apollo Conference championships and had two runner-up finishes in Nolen’s 14-year tenure. Nolen’s Braves reached the playoffs eight times in 14 years with an overall 84-57 record (.596). The Braves were 6-4 in 2007, losing to Dunlap 45-16 in the first round of the 4A playoffs.
Like Princeton, Mt. Zion is a 4A school with an enrollment of 787. It is currently a member of the Apollo Conference, which includes defending champ Effingham (9-1) and playoff qualifiers Mt. Zion (6-4), Newton (8-3), Charleston (7-5) along with OIney East Richland (3-6), Salem (3-6), Robinson (1-8) and Paris (1-8).
Last month, Mt. Zion received a recent invitation to join the Central States 8 Conference in the Springfield area, which consists of defending champ Springfield Sacred-Heart Griffin, Chatham Glenwood, Jacksonville, Springfield, Springfield Lanphier, Lincoln, Taylorville and SpringfIeld Southeast.
