The Tiger’s New Hope: Dave Smart
How will the Tigers Recover?
The University of the Pacific Men’s Basketball Team has struggled season by season against teams with stronger players, coaching, and coordination along with the complicated premise of college basketball not only being a sport but an industry. This pressure and struggle caused the Pacific community, and other teams, to be doubtful of our Tigers.
A new hope has walked onto the Tigers court, giving a promising outlook for the Men’s Basketball Team’s next season. Considered to be Canada’s greatest college basketball coach, Dave Smart, has won 13 Canadian college national championships, multiple coaching awards, and gained experience in the professional sports world. This has made Coach Smart a valued coach in the college basketball industry.
Coach Smart was an assistant coach on the Men's Basketball team at Texas A&M for the 2023-2024 season. One day his agent asked if he would be interested in coming to Pacific. So, Smart came to Stockton for the Pacific vs Gonzaga game. Here he found a positive atmosphere along with our great weather and set his next coaching endeavor here.
Coach Smart is the type of coach that takes in every aspect of the team. From players to faculty, Coach Smart has to be able to trust his colleagues and players. He takes trust over ability and he can trust someone based on their integrity. Smart believes a foundation of trust is critical for success.
The mentality the coach wants to bring onto the court is that we must be feared. If we become formidable enough, other teams will become intimidated. Every year is a new year, teams gain new players and lose old ones. So for this clean slate of the new season, everyone's expectations are tested. Coach Smart has picked up multiple promising players, all of who are bringing talent and an eager mentality to the court.
The plan right now for the team is to stay healthy and prepare for the new season. Coach says their best bet is to avoid any type of injury so they can hit harder in this new season. Coach has also been teaching the same lessons since his start in the 1990s that he believes to be essential to the team. These lessons are not so much physical but psychological. Discipline and resilience are two of the most important ingredients for success this team is implementing in their game.
Coach Smart’s diverse background in sports brings this team new hope for this upcoming season. He is not too focused on the team’s image because he plans on gaining respect through winning which he plans on doing with these new players, an eager mentality, and staying healthy. As long as the team holds integrity and a foundation of trust, the Tigers should thrive this season.