The Dean of Hamilton County basketball coaches has retired.
Pete Smith, who started the Guerin Catholic Basketball Program in 2004 and also served as varsity basketball coach at both Noblesville and Carmel high schools in the 1990s, told his players of his retirement Tuesday morning after their Open Gym workout.
Smith led the Golden Eagles into varsity basketball competition in the 2006-2007 with a senior-less team. That squad finished the season with a 9-13 record and two-point loss in the sectional championship game to Park Tudor. Since then the Golden Eagles have run off 11 straight winning seasons. Two of Smith’s squads won Class 3A state championships in 2012 and 2015. Overall the school compiled a 206-101 record under his tutelage.
Spending 33 years in education, Smith retired in May of 2016 and the next month started working in business development with an engineering firm. Last month he accepted a board of directors’ position with a new bank coming to Hamilton County.
“I’ve learned that coaching, for me, was part of those 33 years and a reason also that I taught,” said Smith. “Coaching was the last part of my day as a teacher all those years, and I just haven’t had the same passion for coaching since I left the classroom. After the ’16-’17 season I season struggled with whether I wanted to coach anymore or not, but I decided to coach this past season and I was glad I did with the great bunch of seniors we had. Injuries threw a wrench into what we thought could be a nice run tournament-time, but that’s basketball.”
After 33 years of coaching, Pete Smith announced his retirement on Tuesday. Smith coached at Noblesville and Carmel high schools before starting the Guerin Catholic program, leading them to two Class 3A state championships. (Brian Reddick/File photo)