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Steve Smith announces retirement at end of season

On3 imageby: Jamie Shaw02/08/22JamieShaw5
On3 image
Oak HIll Coach Steve Smith announces retirement (photo cred- Oak Hill website)

It was announced on Tuesday Steve Smith, the winningest active high school basketball coach is retiring at the end of the season.

Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy President Michael Groves took to Twitter to post Smith’s retirement after 37 years on the bench. To date, Smith has amassed a 1,225 win, 98 loss record (92.5-percent).

Steve Smith first started at Oak Hill Academy as an assistant under head coach Larry Davis in 1983. After two seasons, Davis took a job as an assistant coach at the University of Delaware. In 1985, Smith took over as the head coach at Oak Hill, a position he has held ever since.

A banker from Wilmore, Ky., Smith built a small Baptist-affiliated boarding school in Mouth of Wilson, Va. into a national power. Under Smith’s watchful eye, Oak Hill Academy has become synonymous with national championships, he has won nine, and McDonald’s All-Americans, he has coached 33.

Steve Smith has coached thirty-five players drafted into the NBA, including NBA All-Stars Carmelo Anthony, Rod Strickland, Jerry Stackhouse, and Rajon Rondo. He is third all-time, behind Hyattsville (MD) Dematha Catholic’s Morgan Wootten and Fort Worth (TX) Dunbar’s Robert Hughes in high school wins. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has nominated Smith for induction.

Oak Hill is currently 23-7 and sits eighth in the MaxPreps National Top 20. They have ten games remaining on their regular-season schedule, then the inevitable Geico National Championships.