Pamela Smith brings new outlook to Spencer girls basketball

Pamela Smith vividly recalled watching the Spencer girls basketball team during the Shaw Christmas tournament this past season.

Smith, then the head coach at South Girard School in Phenix City, remembered seeing the team face off with Hardaway to open the tournament. The scoreboard at the end showed a 44-point defeat, but Smith said she knew the team was not a lost cause.

“I saw the girls, and they’ve always been intense, but they always got the short end of the stick,” Smith said. “I (recognized) sometimes you need certain people to pull within those individuals, and I think I have that in me. I casually mentioned it, and I guess the community heard.”

Spencer athletic director Pierre Coffey definitely caught wind of Smith’s words. Coffey announced on Sunday that Smith would be taking over as the new girls basketball coach. Smith replaces Lazenza McGill, who had been the Greenwave head coach since 2014.

Smith joins Spencer after spending 20 years at the junior high school South Girard, 13 of which were spent as the girls basketball head coach. She has also served as Central’s junior varsity girls coach and was a varsity assistant in an official capacity for the last two years. She contributed to the Lady Red Devils program for many years before that.

Smith said it was bittersweet to leave South Girard but added she was excited for her first head coaching opportunity at the varsity level.

“I always believed I was going to be heading someone’s program,” Smith said. “With my stint at Central, I just did my due diligence and gave my 100 percent in everything I did, on the court as well as being a physical education teacher. We just want to build a program of excellence, not just thinking basketball is done after high school. If you really want to take it to the next level, we want to position you to get those opportunities.”

Smith steps in at Spencer with an uncommon amount of perspective. She knows the player mindset well, having played at Eufaula High School before moving on to Chattahoochee Valley Community College and then becoming a two-year letterwinner at Auburn. Along with the years of coaching experience, she also understands the parent point of view, with her daughter Ju’el Beasley playing at Central before graduating in 2013.

Smith credited Central girls coach Carolyn Wright as well as boys coach Bobby Wright as important influences in her coaching endeavors. She thanked Hardaway athletic director Kendall Mills — who Smith has known since their days at Auburn — for always being available to talk and Columbus Parks and Recreation program specialist Tim Marshall for encouraging her when similar head coaching opportunities fell through.

Smith said she hopes to meet with her players sometime this week. While she hasn’t nailed down everything with regards to how she will run the team, she has a solid baseline with which she plans to operate.

“I’ve used this phrase for a long time: ‘If you mess up, mess up full-speed,’” Smith said. “The game of basketball is so fast-paced. With me coaching on the junior-high level, that’s setting the foundation. At this level, I foresee that I shouldn’t have to set that foundation. We’re going to build on the knowledge they already have and take it to the next level in the city. We want to compete, on and off the court.”

The rebuilding job Smith inherits in a team that went winless in 2016-2017 won’t be an easy one, but she made it abundantly clear she has high expectations for Spencer’s future.

“I’m excited because they’re looking for someone to come in and mold the program to where they’re looking to excel,” Smith said. “You’ve got Carver and Columbus, and we want to be able to compete with them. Those are challenges to me. They’ve got the target on their backs. At Spencer, we’re going to be reaching for them.”

Smith wants winning to become the norm at Spencer, but she knows she and the Greenwave have a long road ahead. She expects to hit the ground running after her last day at South Girard on May 25, saying she will then be planning play dates and camps for the players.

She knows from experience it’s no short order for players to quickly adopt the philosophies of a new coach, but she hopes they can embrace her standpoint.

“I’m very intense and very passionate,” Smith said. “Once they understand where that’s coming from, hopefully they won’t be intimidated by that.”

Smith has been working toward this chance for years, and in order for her to succeed, it starts and ends with the players. For the people who will soon get to know Smith with the Greenwave, she said her passion for the kids getting better will become evident.

“They’ll know I care about the kids,” Smith said. “We have a lot of talent in the city. Being on the south side, they can have a certain type of mentality. That mentality determines where you go in life.”

This story was originally published May 17, 2017 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Pamela Smith brings new outlook to Spencer girls basketball."