Back in the big time

Alika Smith joins Hawaii's coaching staff after a standout career as a player

Growing up in a home devoted to hoops put Alika Smith on the road to a standout career on the court and also prepared him for a job on the sidelines.

The son of highly successful Kalaheo High School coach Pete Smith, Alika gained prominence as a high-scoring guard at Kalaheo and the University of Hawaii.

He's since followed his father into coaching and has returned to Manoa as the newest member of the Rainbow Warriors basketball team's staff.

"It was in the blood," Smith said. "My father, growing up that was my everything. That was the guy I Iearned from. ... That was just the path I was going to follow no matter what happened."

UH head coach Riley Wallace announced Smith's hiring in a press conference yesterday and put the newcomer to work right away at the Rainbows' afternoon workout at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Smith played for Wallace from 1994 to 1998 and is the third-leading scorer in the program's history, finishing with 1,415 points.

"He knows and understands our system, he knows and understands our coaching technique and who better to teach that out on the floor than someone who was there for you and had as good success as you'd want," Wallace said.

Smith fills the vacancy on the coaching staff left by the departure of Bob Burke, now an assistant coach with the Portland TrailBlazers.

He joins an experienced coaching staff led by Wallace (19th year) and associate coaches Bob Nash (25th year) and Jackson Wheeler (16th year). All three were on the staff when Smith played at UH.

"I'm just going to take anything and everything I can from each and every one of them," Smith said. "Coach Wallace gave me the opportunity to play Division I basketball and I'm hoping to give him back anything he needs, anything he wants to help him pursue a winning season."

After Burke left for the NBA, Wallace recommended his brother, Loren, for the assistant position. But the hiring wasn't approved by the UH administration, opening the way for Smith.

"All I know is when I was hired Stan Sheriff told me I was about the seventh guy on his list," Wallace said. "Alika was No. 2, so that's a lot better."

With a position vacant, the UH coaches had been splitting up the added duties during the hiring process.

Smith, who played alongside Anthony Carter in UH's "dymanic duo" backcourt his junior and senior seasons, said he'll work primarily with the Rainbows' guards. Wallace added that Smith will also assist Nash in breaking down tapes of opponents, while taking his first few steps on the recruiting trail.

Wallace said the Rainbows' scheme includes about "a third" of what the team ran when Smith was playing. And joining the team three games into the season means he'll have to play catch-up.

"I'm going to have to study film just like the kids," Smith said. "I'm starting from square one and I'm looking to go as high as I can."

One of the top shooters in the program's history, Smith hit 161 3-pointers in his career and was twice named to the All-Western Athletic Conference second team.

He praised the Rainbows' shooting ability so far this season, and the biggest adjustment to coaching will be that, "I would want to be the one to shoot the ball."

Smith first broke into coaching thanks to former Hawaii assistant and current Hawaii-Hilo head coach Jeff Law. He also assisted at Kalaheo.

Smith spent two seasons coaching under Law with UH-Hilo, helping the Vulcans post a 39-16 record.

"Coaching with Jeff at the Division II level, I absolutely loved it and I'm sure I'm going to love it even more here," Smith said.

Said Wallace: "We have to thank Jeff Law for giving him an opportunity to come back and coach, because that helped him get this job, by having that experience there to satisfy our requirements here at the University of Hawaii."

As far as his father's reaction to the news that Smith had landed the job with the Rainbows ...

"He didn't say anything," Smith said. "He smiled, and that's more words than you can imagine."