Oregon’s globe trotting football coach isn’t done
Tom Smythe is still plying his trade—in Poland these days
Many coaching names come to mind when discussing Oregon high school football—all of them successful in their own ways. Roseburg’s Thurman Bell, South Salem’s Marv Heater, and Fred Spiegelberg of Medford High at the bigger schools. At the lower levels, Dayton’s Dewey Sullivan and Jeff Flood of Amity (now North Salem). Multiple state championships and sustained success in the post season are their hallmarks. There are others that could be on this list, so don’t write me about who was left off.
That brings us to another longtime prep football coach who has also brought home his fair share of title trophies. He is still active, but not in Oregon, and not even in the United States. He has turned his attention instead to teaching American football to the Europeans—and has done it quite well, I might add. The coach in question? 81 year old Tom Smythe—former head man at (primarily) Lakeridge and McNary High Schools. State titles in 1987, 1997, and 2001. For the past 22 years, Smythe has directed his European teams to multiple league titles. His stops in Europe include Austria, Finland, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, and at present—Poland. He has notched nearly 500 victories total over 56 years as a coach.
So why coach in Europe? For Smythe, it began as a personal refuge when he was enduring his time as head coach at Lewis and Clark College.
“I was suffering at Lewis and Clark and looking for a way out… I had traveled all over Europe for years and loved every minute of it. One year, a friend of mine in Stuttgart, Germany showed me tons of info on what they called ‘American football,’ because to everyone except America, football is what we call soccer.”
That was in 1993. Smythe went to Vienna, Austria, asked around about American football, and found a second home. Aside from a couple of years off due to health issues, Smythe has coached on the continent ever since. And his time there has been decidedly successful. All of Smythe’s teams have made the post season. In addition, he coached his team to six Austrian titles with Vienna, along with two European championships, and one league title with his current team in Poland.
Coaching American football in Europe is different. The fields are the same length and width, the rules are the same as well. However, football is not connected to schools, but is a club sport. And the season takes place in the spring.
“Our players are either working, are in the military, or are going to school. We practice two or three times a week, in the evening,” says Smythe.
“Practice is always a mystery as to how many players will show up. You always need a plan B, but you can’t create a plan B until you see who is there.”
Still, Smythe finds a way to make it work because enthusiasm is off the charts with his players.
“There are two times our entire team will show up—game day and picture day. But at the end of practice when I talk, every eye is directly looking at me, listening to everything I say. No one is looking at their shoes, and during practice they will ask questions about anything and everything.”
By the way, if you want a primer for American football in Europe, Coach Smythe and I both recommend reading Playing for Pizza by John Grisham.
Smythe also stays busy by writing. He has produced a series of books about teens playing sports at their local high school, and is in the process of creating a spin-off of the original series featuring the younger brother of the hero star from the first series of books. (For those interested, you can check out the books at www.smythe-books.com)
The old coach also is open to returning to the United States during the fall if he can find the right fit with a program in Oregon.
“I think I could be happy coaching a freshman team or assisting at Willamina or Vale. it's football and I seem to have a knack of doing it well… and I would probably get bored to death if I didn't do something in football in the fall.”
Despite having a great relationship with a large segment of his old team members—whom he greets enthusiastically on Facebook on a regular basis, Smythe is never more than a couple of steps away from football. And that is the way he likes it.
“I’ll probably die on some sideline somewhere, maybe in Ukraine,” quips Smythe.
As he prepares for his second spring season in Poland, I wouldn’t bet against it.