By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist
Years before becoming a teacher at Athens High School, Janet Green taught at Mabank junior high and high school. At both campuses, she had a student who made an impression on her: Stephen Smith.
“He was a good kid, always happy and always at school, and always talking. Stephen was the good kind of mischievous, the kind that keeps a teacher on her toes,” said Green. “He worked hard because he knew college was his ticket to a better life. … He is a true success story of what hard work and perseverance can do.”
That hard work started when Smith was young. Coming from a single-parent family, he found himself homeless at the age of 16, floating from “friend to friend to friend.” He kept himself clothed and fed by working grocery store, gas station and lumberyard jobs.
Today, he is the defensive quality control assistant for the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team. The Vols team finished their season 9-4 and defeated Northwestern 45-6 in the prestigious Outback Bowl.
When Green found out her former student would be in the Dallas area for a few days in January, she asked him to speak to her “college and career” classes. Smith agreed, showing up on Wednesday looking comfortable and confident in Tennessee attire.
“I came from a family without the means to send me to college,” he told the room of seniors, encouraging them to apply for all the scholarships and financial aid they can. “I had to either be a good enough athlete to get a scholarship or get financial aid. I was fortunate enough to get both.”
Smith graduated high school in 2002. Having been a standout running back and linebacker for the Panthers, he went on to play football at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie. In 2006, he was named Defensive Player of the Year and graduated with a degree in science and history.
“I wanted to be a coach, because I had coaches who bent over backward for me and were male role models for me,” he said. “I wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for three coaches in high school. One would tell me what it means to be a man; he would take me to church; he would talk to me about having character. That’s how I learned. …
“In life you have two choices: succeed or don’t succeed. You have to sacrifice to succeed,” he told the students. “How much are you willing to sacrifice?”
After graduating, Smith pursued his goal of coaching. He was hired at Cedar Hill High School, a football powerhouse south of Dallas that he helped guide to state titles in 2006, 2013 and 2014. “I love helping young people,” he said. “There’s no better feeling.”
As comfortable as Smith was as the offensive coordinator at Cedar Hill, he still pursued opportunities to coach football at the collegiate level. Success came just before the 2015 season when Southeastern Conference’s Tennessee chose Smith out of thousands of applicants to be the defensive quality control assistant, which he explained as being assistant defensive back coach.
The transition from his secure position at Cedar Hill to the notoriously intense world of collegiate football was challenging, particularly with 100-hour work weeks and no days off from August to October.
“It wasn’t easy or comfortable, but if you’re never uncomfortable, you won’t grow,” he told the class. “When you’re outside your comfort zone, you have the opportunity to grow. …
“So I put my head down and worked. I looked up at the end of the season, and we were winning,” he said with a smile. “That makes everything better. … You gotta love it to do it. I love it.”