'Are you ready?': Nolan Smith Returns Home to Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - "Are you ready?"
That was the text message that Kenny Payne, not long after he was introduced as the next head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program, sent to then-Duke assistant Nolan Smith.
Once, there was a time where he would have told Payne that he wasn't ready.
While Smith has spent 10 of the last 15 years with Duke as a player and staff member, he was born right here in Louisville. Not only that, but his father, Derek, is one of the top players in Cardinals history. The elder Smith is the program's seventh-leading scorer, and helped them capture their first national title in 1980.
But when it was time for him to make a decision on where to play college basketball back in 2007, the younger Smith spurned Louisville and opted to play for the Blue Devils.
It's not that he feared living in his father's shadow and dealing with the inevitable comparisons that would follow. It's that he felt that he was not emotionally prepared to handle the memories of him. In 1996, Derek died after suffering a massive heart attack. He was only 34.
“My sister, Sydney, was in school there at the time and told me it was too emotional being there as Derek Smith’s daughter,” Smith told Andscape last week. “So I imagined going there as Derek Smith’s son who’s playing basketball and putting on the same uniform that he wore every single game. At that time, for me, that would have been a bit much.”
But following a playing career of his own, one where he helped Duke capture a national title in 2010, Smith was ready to carry his budding coaching career to father's alma mater.
"I will be," Smith responded to Payne.
He had to wait until the Blue Devils were officially bounced from the NCAA Tournament to get the ball truly rolling, and they made it all the way to the Final Four. On Monday, he was officially introduced as the first assistant on Payne's staff.
But before that, like he does every time he comes back to Louisville, he and his wife, Cheyna, paid a visit to his late father. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetary, not far from Louisville's campus.
"It's really hard to explain just the emotions I've felt since landing this morning. I've had chills walking through the airport," Smith said during his introductory press conference. "First thing my wife and I did, we went and saw my dad, and I let him know that I'm home. ... I knew it was right.
"To have this Card on my chest, it means the world to me. To be a part of this this, it's bigger than me. It's always been bigger than me. This program has always meant the world to me. To be able to represent this great university, this school, this program, right alongside this guy right here, so excited. So excited to get to work."
Payne and the Smith family are closely intertwined. Derek helped mentor Payne when he was a Cardinal from 1985 to 1989, and trained with him and the Philadelphia 76ers, who would later draft Payne.
After Derek's passing, Payne was an instrumental figure in Nolan's early years. From the time of his father's passing when he was eight-years-old, all the way through his high school days, Payne was one of several adoptive father figures in his life.
"Kenny Payne was one of those people that came into my lives that coached me in life, coached me and helped me become a man, coached me in basketball as a player, and even now as a coach," Smith said.
Now, he returns home to where he was born. In a way, he's living out his father's dream. Derek, who was an assistant coach for the Washington Bullets at the time of his passing, once said that he wanted to eventually coach back at Louisville.
"To be sitting right here, I'm living my life through him like I've always tried to do," Smith said. Very, very special. I'm so honored and proud to be here."
(Photo of Nolan Smith: Matt Stone - Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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