Stephen Christopher Smiley (born April 1, 1981) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

basketball

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

who is the current head coach of the

Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball The Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents University of Northern Colorado (UNC) in Greeley, Colorado, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Big Sky Conference. Northern Colorado ...

team.

Playing career

Smiley was a two-time all-state selection from Pomona High School in

Arvada, Colorado Arvada () is a home rule city located in Jefferson and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 124,402 at the 2020 United States census, with 121,510 residing in Jefferson County and 2,892 in Adams County. Arvada is ...

. Smiley played collegiately under

Don Meyer Donald Wayne Meyer (December 16, 1944 – May 18, 2014) was an American college basketball coach who completed his career in 2010 as head coach of the men's team at Northern State University. He was once head coach at Hamline University and Lipsc ...

at Northern State. He completed his career with the Wolves as the school's record holder in assists with 537, while also ranking third all-time in single-season field goal percentage, along with being named a NSIC all-conference performer his senior year.

Coaching career

Smiley's coaching career began in 2005 as an assistant at then- NAIA institution Black Hills State under

Paul Sather Paul Robert Sather (born August 28, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, currently head men's basketball coach at the University of North Dakota. Early life Sather, from Princeton, Minnesota, played college basketball for Northern Sta ...

for one season before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach from 2006 to 2008. Smiley was then named the head coach at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

in Wyoming, a

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

school. From 2008 to 2014 he led the Generals to a 153–43 overall record with four North Sub-Region 9 titles and two runner-up finishes. They advanced to four Region 9 Final Fours along with two appearances in the championship game. Smiley would join the Division I ranks in 2014 by accepting a position on

Randy Rahe Randy Michael Rahe (born June 12, 1960) is an American former college basketball coach who was the head men's basketball coach at Weber State University. He was hired on March 23, 2006, as the 9th coach in Weber State's 47-year history. Rahe an ...

's staff at Weber State and was part of the team's 2016 Big Sky championship team which made an appearance in the 2016 NCAA tournament. The following season he moved to Big Sky rival Northern Colorado as an assistant coach under

Jeff Linder Jeffrey Michael Linder (born June 21, 1977) is an American college basketball coach and current men's assistant basketball coach at Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball, Texas Tech. Linder was previously an assistant coach at Emporia State Hornets ...

. In the four seasons with the Bears as an assistant, the team posted three-straight 20-win seasons, and won the 2018 CIT. On March 20, 2020, three days after Linder departed to take the head coaching position at

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, Smiley was elevated to head coach, becoming the 20th coach in Northern Colorado history.

Head coaching record

NJCAA

NCAA D1

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smiley, Steve 1981 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Colorado Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball coaches Weber State Wildcats men's basketball coaches Northern State Wolves men's basketball coaches Black Hills State Yellow Jackets men's basketball coaches Sheridan Generals men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from the Denver metropolitan area Northern State Wolves men's basketball players Basketball players from Colorado People from Arvada, Colorado