Tennessee State’s men’s basketball revival under Nolan Smith continues to reap rewards – and awards.
Smith, in his first season guiding the Tigers, was named Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball Co-Coach of the Year, sharing the honor with Morehead State’s Jonathan Mattox.
Tennessee State won a share of their first OVC regular season conference title since 1995 and will enter this weekend’s conference tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.
Smith is the 12th OVC coach to earn the conference’s top coaching honor in his first year and a part of a small crew to win the OVC regular season title in his first year, which includes former Minnesota coach Clem Haskins (Western Kentucky), former Alabama and North Carolina State coach Mark Gottfried (Murray State).
Smith was an All-American and NCAA Division I championship point guard at Duke before playing in the NBA with the Portland Trailblazers and a few stints in Europe before returning to assist Mike Krzyzewski.
After stops at Louisville and Memphis, he was hired to replace Brian “Penny” Collins and has led the Tigers to 21 wins, the most since the program joined Division I for the 1977-78 season.
TSU hammered UT-Martin 67-42 last Saturday to wrap up first place and an automatic spot in the OVC semifinals, where they’ll play Friday at 7 pm Central time.
