Jerry Smith finally reaches the top

By Philip Keck

During a title bid that changed the color of his hair and put a hole in his ear there was a lot of mention of Santa Clara women's soccer Head Coach Jerry Smith.

In a season that yielded 22 conference goals while giving up only two and ending with the national title, Smith's � along with his team's � exploits have become well known, including "trading" his hair color with his team for a conference title.

This provokes an interest into some of the other accomplishments that Smith has had in his 15 years here at Santa Clara. First off, Smith has managed the women Broncos to 219 wins. This coupled with his 58 losses and 15 ties yields a stunning .776 winning percentage.

The record has led the Broncos to first place in the West Coast Conference five times since 1992. Consequently, the Broncos have gone to the NCAA tournament for the past 12 years, though each time falling just short of the national title, until this year, when Smith and the Broncos put the city of Santa Clara on the map � for sport (other than football) related reasons.

Past team performance under Smith include seven NCAA semifinals appearances, 14 consecutive years in the national polls and 12 consecutive years ranked in the top ten.

Smith's players' individual accomplishments are also grabbing. He has coached one Olympic Gold Medallist, two Silver Medallists and 11 United States National Team Players.

Before the historic 2001 season that legitimized Santa Clara as a national powerhouse, Smith had quietly yielded 14 All-Americans including four freshmen, four WCC Defensive Players of the Year, four WCC Players of the Year and won the Coach of the Year award in the WCC five times.

Smith has coached 18 youth national team players, 50 All-Far West region players and a remarkable 68 All-WCC selections.

Soccer runs through Smith's blood, in the form of little soccer balls disguised as hemoglobin. Competition and winning are his oxygen and excellence is his sole product.

However, Smith is not the only one in his family to be gifted with soccer. His wife is famous for her achievements in soccer, too. She is World Cup heroine Brandi Chastain, the one who sent the winning goal past China's goalkeeper in sudden death in the World Cup finals. While Chastain won international titles for the United States, Smith brought home the national title to the new powerhouse in womens college soccer Santa Clara.