As we start a full year of in-person school, we get to see familiar faces that we haven’t in a long time. However, we also get to meet some great new people along the way — one of those being the new boys varsity basketball head coach, Jim Smith. 

Coach Smith was raised in Falls Church and grew up learning to love the game of basketball along the way. He played football and basketball in high school, and played basketball in college at Sewanee. It was these experiences playing basketball that led him to want to be a coach.

“I had a lot of really great coaches that I played for in high school and in college,” Smith said. “And when I got out of college, I couldn’t really imagine not being around the game anymore.”

He juggled some career options before finally deciding to take a position as an assistant basketball coach along with a teaching position at Saint John’s High School in Washington, D.C. Smith was also the head coach at McLean, Sidwell Friends, and Chantilly before coming out of retirement to join the Meridian basketball program. 

“I knew I wanted to coach again, but it had to be the perfect situation,” Smith said, when explaining why he decided to come out of retirement to coach at Meridian. “When [former Athletic Director] Coach [Marvin] Wooten called me up, and said there was a coaching position open, I was immediately interested, having played and coached formally against the previously named high school, George Mason.” 

Smith said he really loved the feel and vibe of the community at Meridian and knew it was somewhere he could see himself enjoy coaching.

Goals for Smith are anything but underwhelming, yet his main goal involves having a positive impact on his players and helping them become better people and students. In terms of basketball, he plans to go for the district, region, and state title. Smith believes in setting high goals and expectations, and plans to achieve them this season and in the future. 

Many people have not had the opportunity to meet Coach Smith yet, as he is not a teacher at Meridian, unlike many of the other coaches. He still wishes to be involved within the Meridian community, but has decided not to come back to academics after teaching social studies for 30 years. 

“Although I loved teaching, I think that part of me is retired,” Smith said.