Dave Smith introduced as RPI’s new coach
TROY, N.Y. >> It was a little startling when Dave Smith came in for his interview a week ago and saw about 50 people on hand to be a part of it. He’d gone from one of 170 applicants to 20 semifinalists, then to four that had the honor or speaking in front of interviewers about twice the size of a hockey team.
A week later, though, it was much of same crowd before him. This time, they were cheering and clapping when he talked. This time it would be in front of the assembled media as RPI’s newest head coach, the culmination of a month-long search.
“I want growth,” Smith said. “For me as a program, as an individual, as a family, as a team, we need to grow. And we need to keep growing, and we need to never stop growing.”
There’s still a lot that Smith needs to process. He needs to sell his Buffalo house, a city that was home the last 12 years when he was the head coach at Canisius. He needs to go through the list of RPI recruits and see which ones have signed National Letters of Intent. And he needs to assemble a staff and decide if current assistants Nolan Graham and Bryan Vines should be retained.
But on Thursday, Smith and the assembled campus leadership were able to celebrate Smith’s hire, and talk about a hopeful future. As part of the application process, RPI said it expected a championship within five years, and Smith spoke about taking small steps to reach that goal. Smith was recently named Atlantic Hockey Conference Coach of the Year, and he took Canisius to the NCAA Tournament once in 2013.
“(Canisius) worked hard to keep him,” RPI president Shirley Ann Jackson said. “But he knew the right place to come.”
Smith helped turn around a
Canisius program that wasn’t nearly as successful when he took over as it currently is. He sees the similarities with taking this job, but knows there’s s different ceiling when competing in the ECAC. He received a five-year contract, per ESPN.
After the press conference was over, Smith opened the floor up to questions from RPI fans in attendance. Once asked about concern over financial commitment from the school to the program — a concern echoed by many RPI alums recently.
“I can tell you without question, I wouldn’t have taken the job if the emotional commitment wasn’t there,” Smith said. “I would not have taken the job if the physical and the financial commitment wasn’t there. I’m very, very comfortable. Across all platforms, it’s outstanding.”
Smith takes over a program that finished 8-28-1 last year and lost in the first round of the conference playoffs to Clarkson. The Engineers reached the NCAA Tournament just once during the 11-year tenure of the recently fired Seth Appert.
Athletic Director Lee McElroy said it was the most exhaustive search he’s ever completed. He said the fact that Smith had an overall losing record at Canisius wasn’t as important as what he built the program into.
At the Houston Field House after his press conference, Smith discussed the importance of first winning the press conference. Then taking the program to Lake Placid, a reference to the semifinals of the ECAC tourna- ment. Then it was about winning that tournament and eventually finding NCAA Tournament success. He broke the process down so quickly it almost sounded easy.
That’s exactly what Thursday was about. The idea of building back up a program that not only isn’t a winner, but has let the narrative of a rich history be overtaken by consistent losing. This press conference was about starting to re-write that.
“Where we’re at right now is developing the program,” McElroy said. “And not just on the hockey ice, but the branding issue. And Dave talked about the importance of the RPI passion and tradition. It was important to get the best candidate. Obviously he’s a head coach, but he’s a builder.”