NFF Chapter Leadership Award Recipients
Biography
Rowland Smith has dedicated more than 60 years of his life to coaching. Smith played football at Michigan State University, and enlisted in the Army/Air Force following the attacks on Pearl Harbor. After the war, Smith took his first head coaching job in 1946 at Garfield High School in his hometown of Seattle as the head freshman football coach and varsity basketball and baseball coach.
He upgraded to the college ranks when he got a call from Western Washington University in 1957 with a defensive coordinator opening. Smith moved up again in 1964 when Washington State head coach Bud Clark hired him on as the receivers and head freshman coach, and then served at Oregon State as the receivers coach as well.
In 1973, an opportunity came with the BLESTO Pro Scouting Service. After a stint evaluating players for multiple NFL teams, Smith spent time with UC Davis and Chico State (Calif.) before stepping back down to the high school level at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Wash. He has authored two publications, Power T Football and Effective Football Coaching.
