When the Windsor High School boys basketball team plays a state semifinal game Thursday, the fathers of two players will be among the Wizards’ fans in the stands at the Denver Coliseum.
Steve Smiley and Houston Reed don’t always have a chance to see their sons play during Windsor’s high school season. Smiley is the head coach of the University of Northern Colorado men’s basketball team, and Reed is an assistant coach with the Bears.
They were traveling last week with UNC on the final road trip of the regular season, and missed the in-person experience of watching their sons’ also at the Denver Coliseum.
Madden Smiley is a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard for the Wizards. He scored 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the 74-68 quarterfinal win over Lewis-Palmer.
Johnnie Reed is a 6-foot-6 senior forward and center. Reed scored nine points with three rebounds, one block and one assist against L-P.
While Madden and Johnnie were playing in what was then the biggest game of the season, their fathers watched the game through a laptop on a big screen in a hotel conference room in Pocatello, Idaho. UNC arrived in Pocatello not long before the Windsor tip time. UNC played the night before at Weber State in Ogden, Utah, and lost in overtime.
Madden Smiley and Johnnie Reed were influenced to play basketball in large part by their fathers. Yet, the fathers and sons can’t always share the game at the same place and the same time.
“Itap brutal, and one of the hardest parts of the profession is not being able to be around it,” Steve Smiley said of missing the quarterfinal game. “There’s going to come a point in time where you’re at home and they’re on the road, and itap the price you pay for this profession.”
Both Madden Smiley and Johnnie Reed expressed a sense of acceptance about their families’ basketball connection. They were elementary school-aged boys when they began playing the game during previous stops in their fathers’ coaching careers.
Madden Smiley, 16, said it used to bother him that his father couldn’t always go to his games. Those feelings aren’t as strong now. Steve calls Madden after games when the head coach can’t be there.
“He’ll ask me, ‘Do you want the Dad opinion first or the coach opinion first?” Madden said. “We watch film two or three times a week. He knows the game so well.”
Madden Smiley picked up a basketball for the first time when he was about 3 years old. Johnnie Reed and his older sister, Olivia, used to ride the school bus to Otero College when his father coached the Rattlers. Houston Reed and his wife, Leah, both played basketball at Otero in La Junta.
The Reed kids played in the gym, spent time around the players and saw a side of the sport that might not be available to children whose parents aren’t in coaching.
“Itap what I’ve known to this point,” said Johnnie Reed, now 18. “The culture and being around the guys. I used to sit on the bench when I was little.”
Windsor High School coach Jon Rakiecki said for him coaching coaches’ kids is a dream scenario. Those players live the world of coaching through their parents and families, and they’re hearing at home about the concepts of work ethic, teamwork and execution on the field or court of play.
“They get it at practice, they get it at school and they don’t have anybody to go home to and get a different message,” Rakiecki said. “Itap consistency across the board. If the coach’s kid goes home and says, ‘I wish I was playing more,’ guess what the coach is going to say? They’re going to say, ‘Work harder, execute better. Hey, you better go to the gym more.’”
Rakiecki said Steve Smiley and Houston Reed have been supportive of the Windsor program, and offered the Wizards’ staff coaching tips. When Windsor played Centaurus last month, Rakiecki asked the UNC coaches for assistance facing a Centaurs zone defense.
“I asked for help, and they gave me some and it worked,” Rakiecki said. “It’s almost like there is another Windsor High School coaching staff over there.”
Windsor plays Vista PEAK Prep in Aurora at 12:45 p.m. Thursday in the state semifinal at the Denver Coliseum. If Windsor beats Vista PEAK and advances to the Class 5A state title game, the Wizards will play at 11:45 a.m. Saturday back at the Denver Coliseum. VISTA Peak beat Windsor 65-48 in December.
The UNC men’s team is scheduled to fly out of Denver earlier Saturday morning for their trip to the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Boise, Idaho. The Bears are the No. 2 seed for the 10-team championship and are scheduled to play their first game Monday night at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise.
Steve Smiley said he and Houston Reed are looking into taking a later flight Saturday out of Denver should Windsor play in the championship game. With this option, Smiley and Reed would aim to get to Boise in time for UNC’s practice in the afternoon.
“Thatap a fluid situation,” Smiley said.
