The REPORTER
A familiar state champion basketball coach will be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in a few months.
Pete Smith was announced as one of the inductees in a press release sent out Tuesday morning. Smith was a longtime and distinguished coach, especially in Hamilton County, where he coached at three different schools, winning two state championships at Guerin Catholic.
“It’s so cool to share it with a lot of the players and assistant coaches that still live here that I see and talk to on a regular basis,” Smith told the Reporter.
Smith graduated from Rochester High School in 1979. He led the Zebras to a 16-5 record his senior campaign while being named Defensive Player of the Year, Mental Attitude Award Winner, and team captain. Smith attended Bethel College, where he was injured prior to his sophomore year, so he began his coaching career his junior year.
Smith was an assistant at Rochester, South Bend Adams, and Warsaw before becoming head coach at Manchester. The Squires were 66-26 during his four years, winning a sectional in 1988 and compiling a 22-1 record during the 1990-91 season.
Smith was hired at Noblesville on Aug. 8, 1991. In a Noblesville Ledger article that ran the next day, sports editor Mike Emery noted the difference in styles, saying “Smith’s high-octane attack has worked as effectively for him as the more deliberate attack” of Nicholson, also a member of the Hall of Fame.
“Starting at Noblesville, replacing a living legend in Dave Nicholson,” said Smith. “That was a unique challenge because he had built such a great basketball program, yet our styles were very different on the court. It made it some tough shoes to fill.”
“And yet he was always supportive,” said Smith. “He came to a lot of games. I really appreciate that about Nic, because it was a different style of basketball the Millers played.”
Smith coached for three seasons at Noblesville, winning a sectional title in 1994 and advancing to the regional final. Smith then coached at Penn for four seasons, 1994-98, during which time he also taught business at the high school. As a coach, his 1995-96 team finished 19-5 and also won a sectional championship.
“I gave up a great coaching job at Noblesville to take a leap of faith and go to Penn,” said Smith. “Fortunately we did pretty well at Penn, too.”
Smith returned to Hamilton County and coached at Carmel for four seasons, 1998-2002. After that, Smith began building the boys basketball program at the new Guerin Catholic High School. Smith said the Golden Eagles’ first team in 2004-05 was a freshman squad, with 17 ninth-graders.
The team added grades each year, and played its first-ever sectional in 2007, where it took Park Tudor in the limit during the sectional championship game before falling 50-48.
Guerin Catholic would soon become a powerhouse. The Golden Eagles won their first-ever sectional championship in 2010, then claimed a 3A state title in 2012. Guerin Catholic followed that with a regional crown in 2014 and added a second 3A state championship in 2015. Smith’s Guerin Catholic team went 9-13 his first season but compiled a winning season in the coach’s next 11 seasons until he retired in 2018.
“It was cool to get it going from scratch like we did,” said Smith.
Smith is pictured here with University of Kentucky coach John Calipari. (Photo provided)
Smith amassed 389 wins in his career, and a winning percentage of 61 percent. Smith has earned numerous honors from the IBCA including District Coach of the Year. Smith had the honor of being an assistant coach for the McDonald’s All-American game, Director of the Indiana/Kentucky All-Star Series, and a director of 5-Star Summer Basketball Camps for 24 summers.
Smith also took several coaches under his wing as assistants, with 17 of them going on to become head coaches for high school, college, and even an NBA team – Brad Stevens, the former Butler University coached the Boston Celtics from 2013 to 2021 and is now the team’s Director of Basketball Operations.
Smith and the other members of the men’s class of 2024 will be inducted at a banquet the evening of March 20, 2024 at Primo Banquet Hall in Indianapolis. A reception will take place that afternoon at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Museum in New Castle.