jim smiley resigns

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SoCalHoops HS Coaching News

Crescenta Valley HS Coach
Jim Smiley Resigns--(May 21, 2001)

While rumors of Jim Smiley's resignation have, according to the LA Times, swirled around the program at Crescenta Valley "for weeks," reading about Jim's resignation in today's edition of the Times was the first clue we had that he would be leaving one of the most successful programs in the Southern Section of the CIF. . .See, just goes to show that we're really out of the loop!

According to a story in today's Times written by staff writer Hamlet Nalbandyan, Coach Smiley decided to leave after four years of
coaching. "Smiley, 34, was only the third coach in the program's history, which dates back to 1963, including Ed Goorjian (1963-1978) and John Goffredo (1979-1997). No replacement has been named yet, but CV's co-Principal Gary Talbert said that they are 'pretty far along in the process, but nothing has been official yet.'

While the article leaves open the reason for Smiley's departure, it does allude to the fact that he'd like to spend more time with his two sons, Jimmy 4, and Will 2. Smiley, who was also a player under Coach Goffredo and was the Falcon's team captain in 1985, finishes his coaching career there (at least for now) with a record of 77-34, having reached the CIF playoffs in all four years he was at the head of the program.

The article also focused on the community service requirement that his teams completed each season:

"But even more impressive than Smiley's accomplishments on the court, were his contributions to the community. Since his arrival in 1997, all of his teams completed more than 1,000 hours of community service each year, and the team grade-point average was consistently among the best in CIF. "I'm very proud of the wins, but that can't be the focus of education," said Smiley, who will remain a history and guidance teacher at CV. "I believe that as an athlete, you're a role model, and I tried to instill that into all of my players."'

We're actually pretty surprised to read about the resignation, figuring that Smiley would stick around for at least one more year as the remaining two-thirds of his three-player high scoring combo finishes out their careers. This year, James Jenkins (6'-7" Sr. F) who graduates in a few weeks, was joined by Jimmy Goffredo (6'-0" So. SG) and Chris Tarne (6'-1" Jr. PG) as three of the leading scorers in the Pacific League. Some are speculating that John Goffredo, Jimmy's dad, formerly the head coach prior to Smiley taking the reins, may come back to finish out his son Jimmy's career at CV.

The article also had some other facts on Smiley's coaching career at CV:

THE SMILEY FILE
Name: Jim Smiley
Age: 34
Overall record: 77-34, a winning percentage of .694.
Year-by-year accomplishments:
* 1998 -- Team went 16-11, finished third place in the Pacific League and
advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division IAA playoffs.
* 1999 -- Team went 17-10, finished third in league and advanced to the CIF
postseason.
* 2000 -- Team went 23-6, finished second in league and advanced to the
third round of the CIF playoffs. Win total was second most in school history since
1978.
* 2001 -- Team went 21-7, finished second in league and advanced to the
second round of the CIF playoffs.
Did you know? Smiley is just the third coach in the program's history, which
dates back to 1963.