Gladiators: The story of Craig Smith’s rise to prominence

On January 26, 2019, a banged-up Utah State men’s basketball team found itself in Albuquerque, NM, preparing to enter the deep confines of “The Pit.” The Pit is a notoriously difficult arena to play in due to 15,411 rambunctious New Mexico fans that inhabit it on game day.

Knowing his Aggie team was in for a dog-fight, first-year head coach Craig Smith decided they needed extra motivation. So he turned on a movie. 

A scene from “Gladiators” played out on the screen in the USU film room, portraying a small group of soldiers trapped in a pit with their lives at stakes, tasked with defeating the large army before them. 

As the battle progressed, and the undermanned soldiers began to dismantle the enemy, then-freshman forward Justin Bean recalls Smith screaming at the team: “These guys are going to be coming with everything! We’re in the Pit! We gotta do everything we can to stay together and come on top like road warriors!” 

The fanatical pep-talk from Coach Smith seemed to do the trick. It took everything they had — including a buzzer-beater three-point shot from Sophomore Abel Porter —  but the Aggies, just like their Gladiator counterparts, came out of “The Pit” that day victorious. 

For many coaches, such eccentric moments are few and far between. But for Craig Smith, the high-intensity, warrior mentality is just his nature. 

He brings it on the practice floor, urgently running around, preparing his players for an upcoming opponent. He brings it in interviews, speaking to the media on zoom calls from his office so loudly that his assistant coach can hear him three doors down. And he brings it in the huddles during timeouts, using such colorful language that radio engineer Ajay Salvenson sometimes has to switch off the hot mics set up in the Spectrum. 

“I’ve never seen a guy anywhere just bring it every single day,” said Utah State assistant coach Eric Peterson. “Consistent with his communication and his energy, he does not have a bad day.”

“I for sure never have had a coach that comes in there every day with the same fire that he does,” said junior Neemias Queta. “And I feel like that brings the best out of every player on the team.”

This ability of Smith to channel his fire into motivation for his players to perform at their highest has been on full display in the first three seasons of his tenure in Logan. The Aggies are 74-23 (.763) with him at the helm. By comparison, head coach San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher is 96-30 (.762) in his four seasons with the Aztecs. 

But of all the feathers on Smith’s cap, winning an NCAA tournament game is not among them. 

Still, betting against him would be foolish.

Going from a student-education graduate from the University of North Dakota with zero college coaching or playing experience — only the desire to be a basketball coach —  to becoming one of the best mid-major coaches in the nation 25 years later, Smith should be perfectly capable of winning in Indiana. 

“He always wanted to do this,” said his brother Mike Smith. “I think he always had the dream and the vision to be successful at this and he has been…he puts in the time he’s just very passionate about it.”

Smith got his first coaching job right out of college as an assistant at NAIA Mayville State for the 1996-97 season. After assistant jobs at Northern State, North Dakota, and North Dakota State, he got his first head coaching gig at Mayville State, where he would compile a 72-29 record in three seasons. 

This earned him an assistant job under Tim Miles at Colorado State from 2008 to 2012 and at Nebraska from 2013-2014. 

While at Nebraska, Smith began to recruit a point guard out of Williston State junior college in North Dakota and naturally built a close relationship with the Williston State head coach, Peterson.  

Both having spent time coaching in the Dakota’s, Peterson had gotten to know Smith briefly beforehand, and knew that he was a sort of “basketball genius.” But seeing him out in the recruiting field helped him notice something unique about him.

“There’s a lot of people in this business that you can kind of sniff out and you know they’re maybe a little bit fake or phony,” said Peterson. “Craig was just a real person, just genuine.” 

Soon, Smith was hired to be the head coach at South Dakota, bringing Peterson along. 

At South Dakota, Smith was 79-55 (.590) in four seasons. In his final season in Vermillion, SD, the JackRabbits went  26-9 and finished second in the Summit League. 

His efforts at South Dakota convinced Utah State athletic director John Hartwell to hire him to a proud Utah State basketball program that had slipped into mediocrity, but with aspirations to be a winner once again.

And he certainly has. 

The great James Naismith once said, “You can’t coach basketball, you just play.” While there are some flaws in the inventor of basketball’s logic, he has a point: You need guys that can play. 

Smith has managed to be successful wherever he has gone because he’s utilized his warrior mentality and authentic nature to convince athletes that fit his program to come and play and inspire players on his current roster to play to their potential. 

Knowing he wanted Queta after watching just one first half of film, Smith managed to bring the big man to Utah State and helped him become an All-American in his junior season. He brought in freshman guard Rollie Worster, who has carved out a starting role, and junior transfer-guard junior Marco Anthony from the University of Virginia, who told me he committed only when he realized Smith’s personality was genuine. 

He has also helped develop guys brought in by Tim Duryea, such as former walk-on junior Bean, who just earned All-Mountain West second-team honors, and junior sharp-shooter Brock Miller who just earned All-Mountain West honorable mention. 

Former USD player Triston Simpson, who played under Smith from 2016-2018 had this to say:

“He is a great coach and there’s a reason he wins wherever he is. His intense and competitive spirit rubs off on guys,” said Simpson. “And he does a great job recruiting guys that are just like him. Guys that want to compete and guys that want to win. From his pre-game speeches to yelling at us during a timeout, he would always find a way to get us fired up. And he also instilled so much confidence in players you felt like you could succeed in whatever it was we were doing.” 

“Craig builds really strong relationships with our players through the recruiting process and then that continues,” said Peterson. “The relationship continues when they get to Utah State so when you have that strong of relationships with the guys and you have good players it shows on the floor. Those guys will do anything for him, they’ll run through a wall for him.”

Sure, Smith’s exuberance can result in some good-natured teasing. The Aggie players enjoy impersonating his voice and mannerisms. According to Peterson, Miller is the best at it. Smith’s brother Mike joked that he drinks too much coffee in the morning. 

“I feel like the luckiest person on earth,” said Smith. “I get to do what I love to do, I love to coach I love to be around people, you hope to inspire and make others better.”

In order to rise up and get the upset, USU will need the “road warrior” mentality. Being in Indiana, will Smith motivate his team by showing them Hoosiers, the feel-good film about a small school team? 

Bean doesn’t think so. 

“We’re probably more likely to watch the scene from the pit in Gladiator again.”