Jarrod Smith is a five-time Regional Coach of the Year honoree.  He begins his 12th season as head coach of the Drury University women’s tennis program and his sixth for the men’s tennis program.  The Scoop recently sat down with coach Smith to talk a little tennis.

Since you’ve been coaching the Drury tennis team for more than 10 years, how would your describe your experience?

I can honestly tell you that there’s no place that I would rather be than at Drury.  I never saw myself as a college tennis coach.  That was never my career path but when I was in college and had the opportunity to attend Northwest Missouri State, it was kind of a way to continue my education.  I fell in love with that job and figured that I should make a career of it, and when Drury came knocking on my door 12 years ago I came running to Springfield as fast as I could.

What is your proudest feeling about being a Drury tennis coach?

I take a lot of pride in the people that graduated from this university.  I really think that four years of a Drury education brought out some of the best people you will ever find and I’m really proud of the relationship we have built here.  I’m very proud of the relationships that I hold from my first player here and that I can still talk to them on a daily basis.  I was talking to one just today as a matter fact.  I’m really proud of the people that come out of this university.

Can you tell me one thing that has impressed you the most during your coaching career?

I think what impresses me the most is how things changed but also how things stay the same.  What I mean is the older I get the younger my players seem to be but they still have the same commitment, the same work ethic, even though times change, technology changes in the way we communicate and things always change but those relationships stay the same.  Effort stays the same along with the principles of training, integrity, honesty, and hard work.  Those things don’t change and we seem to have a philosophy in this program that we have great people here and people get better as tennis players and they get better as students and they get better as people.

What advice you would give to college tennis players?

I think when you come in as a freshman in your first year, everything is very new, everything is very exciting, and everything is a little scary.  They are away from home a lot of times and that may be their first experience of months away from home and it turns into years away from home.  One thing I would say is to embrace life.  Don’t just study all the time and don’t just play tennis all the time, experience life and make friends.  You came to college for an education but also to grow as a person and that you should grab every opportunity to live during your time, because these should be the best four years of your life.  It is exciting and it still is a safe place while being the first step of your big journey in life, so experience life as much as you can.

What is your hope for the program in the future?

I think as the program keeps building and as we keep bringing great people in here and we get more and more athletes from around the world and more renowned around the world we will just keep building great people.  We want to keep winning championships but we want to keep putting out great people into the world that are going to change the world and that are going to do big things after they leave Drury.