Goal! Goal! Goal!
Amber Berendowski, who will play soccer for Michigan next season,
was named to the PARADE All-America High School Girls Soccer Team.
Berendowski, a senior forward from Brighton, is one of 36 players
selected for the team.

Wednesday
February 21, 1996



Assistant hoops coachha passion for the game

--.i

By Michael Rosenberg
Daily Sports Writer
f there were a 12-step program for
workaholics, Jay Smith would try to
complete it at the office. He says he
works "12-to-14 hour days, dang near every
day." But even for a guy who is used to
doing the work of two people, this is
ridiculous.
Jay Smith is an assistant coach with the
Michigan men's basketball team.
Jay Smith is the next men's basketball
coach at Grand Valley State.
Jay Smith is a busy man.
"There is an understanding that I will be
here till the end of the year," said Smith,
who took the Grand Valley job at the end of
December. "But, yeah, in the back of my
mind, late at night, I'm plotting strategies,
planning what I'm going to do at Grand
Valley once I get there."
So Jay Smith, he of the 90-hour work-
weeks, thinks about basketball in his free
time. In the meantime, he still attacks his
job at Michigan with manic intensity. He
can still be spotted standing on the sidelines
during games, yelling at players, stomping
his foot to get their attention.
Especially stomping his foot.
"Maybe that's my trademark - in the
future, I'll be known as The Stomper,"
Smith says. "It's connected to my voice, I
think. One time I went home and had a
blood vessel broken on the back of my foot.
It was all black and blue."
The stomping will continue until the
season ends. But there is a certain weirdness
here. Smith sees injured Wolverines Jerod
Ward and Robert Traylor every day, but he
knows he will probably never coach either
player again.
Nostalgia sets in, too.
"My love is with Michigan," Smith says.
"But in the back of your mind, you're
thinking, 'This is the last time I'm going to
Mackey Arena. This is the last time I'm
going to the Breslin Center.' So it's kind of
sad, and yet there are new challenges that lie
ahead for me as a head coach."
It sounds like basketball is taking over
Smith's life, but that happened long ago.
"This is what Jay Smith is about," he
says. "Give me 12 guys and a ball and a
gym and I'm happy."
In the late '70s, Smith had 12 guys giving
him the ball. Smith was a guard at Mio High
School in tiny Mio, Mich. He was also the
team's only scoring option.

"They would set screens to get me open
all the time," Smith said. "That's why I
averaged nearly 40 points a game. Our guys
loved it. They didn't care. There were
games when whatever I threw up was going
in. People say 'You gunned all the time.' I
wouldn't say I gunned all the time ... I took
a lot of shots."
By the time Smith stoppd shooting, he
was the state's all-time leading scorer, with
2,841 points. When he set the mark, Smith
celebrated by going to the Mio Pizza Oven.
His record still stands. But it doesn't
impress Wolverines like Traylor and Willie
Mitchell, players who were famous in high
school and find it hard to believe their
assistant coach scored more as a schoolboy
than they did.
"They get on me
because I played ati
Class D, at a smallV
school, and they are
from the city," Smith guys and
said. "My line ton
them is, 'Hey, the
rim is the same size, ha" Y"
and the ball is the
same size, so don't
give me any guff M iC
about it."'
Much as Smith is b
left defending his
playing career to his
own players, he finds himself defending his
very existence to the NCAA. Smith is the
third assistant coach for Michigan - in
NCAA parlance, the restricted-earnings
coach. Restricted, in this case, means Smith
is paid less than $17,000 per year.
The NCAA instituted the rule to keep
costs down. To Smith, it seems to be a
funny way to do it.
"It bothers you because you see people
getting hired as administrators in athletic
departments getting twice what you're getting
paid," Smith said. "And you are the one who
is at practice, working with the kids, making
sure they go to class, making sure everything
is right with their lives. We're the ones dealing
with them every day."
Former Duke assistant coach Pete Gaudet
is currently suing the NCAA, claiming the
rule unfairly limits his earning potential.
Smith is behind him.
"He's kind of the grandfather of Division
I third assistants," Smith said. "All the third
assistants threw in $100 to pay for the
lawyers for the case."

ri
M4

For Smith, being the third assistant has
been particularly frustrating. In the past
four seasons alone, he has seen three
different coaches occupy Michigan's No. 2
assistant slot, while he remained stuck as
the restricted-earnings coach.
First it was Perry Watson. Then Watson
left to become head coach at Detroit, and in
came Ray McCallum. Then McCallum took
the head coaching job at Ball State, and in
walked Scott Perry.
Watson, McCallum and Perry are black.
Smith is white. This is not a coincidence.
"You have to have a minority on staff for
recruiting," Smith said, adding that all three
are excellent coaches. "We have to do
what's best for this program, not what's
best for Jay Smith."
What's best for Jay
Smith, Jay Smith has
1 ~ decided, is to be the
r coach at Grand Valley
b ~State. Smith says his
an limited income at
n m Michigan was not the
reason behind the
move to the Division II
- Jay Smith school.
igan assistant If that's the case, it
is a curious decision. If
iketbaI coach one were to place the
Wolverines and Lakers
on a college athletics
landscape, there would be a pretty grand
valley between them. Michigan is an elite,
nationally renowned program. Grand Valley
State is ... not.
Smith is not fazed.
"It's a great facility, a great campus, in a
great area," he said. "It's got everything
you need. Now it just needs to be worked
and cultivated and developed. It's a great
opportunity for me. I don't have to be in a
plush office, coaching in Crisler Arena. I
could be happy there for the next 20 years."
Does he mean that? Is this the last stop for
Jay Smith? Would he be content to be, say, 55
years old and still at Grand Valley State?
"If after 10 years, Michigan or Michigan
State called me, yeah I'd look at it," he said.
"But if it wasn't right for me, I'd stay at
Grand Valley."
In a way, Grand Valley State is Jay
Smith's dream job. It doesn't much matter
to him that it isn't as well-known as
Michigan. Hey, the rim is the same size and
the ball is the same size, so don't give him
any guff about it.

MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Michigan assistant basketball coach Jay Smith counsels freshman guard Louis Bullock earlier this
season. Smith has accepted the head coaching job at Grand Valley State, effective at the end of the
season, but for now he's the restricted-earnings coach on the Wolverine payroll.
Jay Smith-
High School: Mio High School
Colleges: Bowling Green, Saginaw Valley State College
Coaching career: Graduate Assistant - Kent State 1984-85
Assistant Coach - Kent State 1985-89
Assistant Coach - Michigan 1989-96
Career Highlights - All-time leading scorer in Michigan high school
basketball history (2841 points) ... Three-time first-team all-state
selection ... Named Michigan Prep Player of the Year twice.

Men's swimmer decides to end season, stay on as assistant for NCAAs

By Susan Dann
Daily Sports Writer
Coverage of this weekend's Big Ten
Championships failed to mention one
key contributor to Michigan's effort.
Royce Sharp has decided to forgo
e remainder of the season, choosing
t to compete in the Big Ten meet or
the NCAA National Championships.
"Royce's decision to forgo (the re-
iainder of the season) is very mature,"
poach Jon Urbanchek said. "He basi-
ally came to the conclusion that he was
not prepared and it would be in the best
interest of the team."
Urbanchek is
looking for Sharp to
antinue helping the "
Vol verines in their NI.cia
pursuit of back-to-
back national chain- Notebook
pionships. The se-
nior will remain
with the team as an
undergraduate as-. ..._.
sistant..
"His experiences contributed in the
pool and helped us win," Urbanchek
aid. "I know he will be able to contrib-
e a lot from the deck."
Although his times will no longer
appear in meet results, Sharp's name
will not be absent from the Michigan
record book.
t Among his accomplishments as a
Wolverine, Sharp was an eight-time
All-Atmerican, five-time Big Ten Cham-
pion and 1993 Big Ten Freshman of the
Year.
Sharp was also a member of the
nited States' World Championship,
Pan Pacific and U.S. Olympic teams.
Women's swimming
The Michigan women's swimming

Jodi Navta, a three-time Big Ten
champion, won the 200 breast last
year. Five-time Big Ten champion
Melissa Stone, who repeated as Big
Ten 50 free champion, also looks to
fare well at this year's Big Ten Cham-
pionships.
- Marc Lightdale
Women's gymnastics
Cliff Keene Arena is more than the
home site of the women's gymnastics
team. It has been a humble abode to the
Wolverines.
The friendly confines of Michigan's
gymnastic facility have housed numer-
ous Wolverine record-breaking perfor-
mances and lit up its scoreboard with
some ofthe highest scores recorded this
Season.
It is good that the Wolverines have
made themselves comfortable right at
home, because they haven't had as much
success on the road.
The Wolverines are averaging
194.908 points at home, while in their
three away meets they average more
than two points less, at 192.442.
It seems unfair to compare
Michigan's home accomplishments to
those on the road, though, especially
after their meet against Utah this past
weekend.
Michigan's performance against the
Utes ranked among the best all-time for

both team and individual scores. The
Wolverines scored a team season-high
and third all-time score of 196.575.
They also established a Michigan record
on the balance beam by beating the old
mark of 49.275 with 49.350.
The 1996 team also moved into sec-
ond place all-time on the uneven bars
with 49.100 points.
The homelike atmosphere has prob-
ably been the most endearing to senior
Wendy Marshall and junior Andrea
McDonald. Each of these gymnasts
has produced scores that rank among
Michigan's all-time best. Marshall tied
Beth Wymer for first place on the
balance beam, with a score of 9.925.
When Michigan hits the road for the
three most important meets of the sea-
son--Big Tens, Regionals and NCAAs
-they will be lookingtofindopposing
confines just as warm as their own.
- Nancy Berger
Men's track
Anticipation is the feeling shared by
the freshmen members of the men's
track and field team. They are eager to
get to Columbus and participate in their
first Big Ten Championship meet.
"I know what the intensity level is
like, and I am looking forward to a good
competition," middle distance runner
John Mortimer said.
The individual excitement is shared

by all.
"I am looking forward to going to
Big Tens and winning as a team,"
sprinter Jared Lewis said.
Senior Felman Malveaux traded in
his spikes for a cast and crutches. The
Wolverine sprinter suffered a fracture
in his right foot two weeks ago at the
Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Ind.

Malveaux was hoping to post an NCAA
qualifying time for the 55-meter dash at
either the Central Collegiate Champi-
onships or the EMU Classic, but the
injury has postponed his goal. He will
return to the track as soon as the cast is
removed, which may be as early as this
weekend.
- Kim Hart

Football
Former Michigan offensive lineman
Greg Skrepenak signedwiththe Caro-
lina Panthers, The Detroit News re-
ported yesterday.
The 6-foot-7, 340-poundtacklejoins
Matt Elliott, another former Wolver-
ine, on the line.

NEED HELP GETflNG OVER THE MID-TERM HUMP)
AV~k


St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

& Canterbury House
invite you to attend

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