Father-son coaching combination guides Kiski Area boys to top of section

By: Dave Mackall
Thursday, January 16, 2025 | 6:15 PM

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When he patrols the sideline during game days, Kiski Area boys basketball coach Corey Smith hears voices.

They are familiar sounds, a comforting tone. Smith’s dad, above everyone else, has his son’s ear.

“My father to this day has been on my staff. He keeps me in line,” Smith said. “I know he’s sitting behind me. I know how much respect I have for him. That’s how I carry myself.”

Richard Smith — you may call him “Reverend” — has been by Corey’s side through the years. There’s an undeniable bond, a mutual admiration between the two men.

“I raised Corey with tough love, the way I was brought up,” said Richard Smith, a retired steel industry worker who spends several days a week part time in the golf department at Dick’s Sporting Goods at The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills.

Also an ordained Baptist minister, who preaches part time at several Vandergrift-area churches, Richard continues as a voice of reason while Corey’s basketball team builds momentum.

Dad has been there for his son with various youth sports programs and later during Corey’s high school and college playing days.

And he’s there for him now, the two of them seemingly inseparable as Kiski Area (7-6, 5-1 in Section 1-5A) shoots for another WPIAL playoff spot with the hope of even more.

Since taking the coaching reins before the start of the 2021-22 season, the Smiths have been part of a tight-knit staff that has guided the Cavaliers to a spot in the postseason in their first three years on the bench.

“He’s passionate about everything he does,” Richard Smith said of his son. “I’ve been with Corey for seven years now.”

Corey Smith, with the help of his dad and others, coached Class 2A Leechburg for three seasons before taking over at Kiski Area, his alma mater.

The remainder of the staff consists of Kristian Clayton, the program’s junior varsity coach, and Shawn Bennis, Isiah Gonzalez and Ulers “Pops” Tutchstone.

“I think we’re on the right track in Year 4,” Corey Smith said. “The numbers are growing. The travel teams are growing. Our ninth grade team just lost its first game, and our JV team is still unbeaten.”

Smith said he’d like nothing more than to bring another WPIAL section championship home.

He played on two of the school’s five title teams during the 1999-2000 and 2001-02 seasons.

“Every day in practice, I look up at the wall at those banners,” Smith said. “There’s only five of them, and I have two as a player but none as a coach.

“It’s personal now.”

Perhaps the time has come. Smith and the Cavaliers are on a roll of late, winning four games in a row since the start of the new year.

They find themselves tied with Penn Hills atop the section standings after beating the Indians, 68-53, at home Tuesday night behind a pair of seniors who combined for 41 points.

Carson Heinle led the way with 21, and Jacob Musselman added 20.

“We’ve grown a lot more as a team from last year to this year,” Musselman said. “It feels good to win, and that was a big win for us.”

Kiski Area, idle until Tuesday night when it hosts Indiana, has benefited from a tough, nonconference schedule in the early season, Corey Smith said.

The Cavaliers opened with a pair of losses to Class 6A teams Butler and No. 1 Upper St. Clair, which began the season ranked No. 3 in the PIAA.

“We feel we can beat anybody on any given night,” Corey Smith said. “When the players are tuned into my voice, and my voice only … As long as we don’t get comfortable. We have to keep on working, stay level-headed, stick to the game plan, the practice plan, and keep on going.”

Early-season indicators are in full view now for Smith and his staff as the finish line nears.

“We went on the road early to play the No. 3 team in the state and lost 46-29,” he said. “That told me right there that we were going to be OK. Our guys did not back down. We actually executed the game plan. They trust my voice, the preparation, the game plan, the film study. It’s going great right now. The result of it is we’re tied for first, and that’s because of our preparation and confidence right now.”

It is a routine that resonates with the players, Musselman said.

“We do a great job of preparing for our games,” he said. “We have done a pretty good job of breaking down what works for our team. Coach’s plays are pretty good. He’s got so many of them. In terms of the game, he does a good job of keeping us poised.”

Meanwhile, Richard Smith quietly takes it all in, lending an opinion from time to time. Mainly, he’s there to support his son and the rest of the team.

The 72-year-old Smith says he’s back on track after suffering two strokes in 2017. He’s able to play golf, but only when the weather is nice, he insisted. He’s loving his part-time job at Dick’s, at times offering customers instruction on the game.

“I’m teaching you, but they’re tips and they’re free. They’re not a lesson,” he said.

Richard is proud of his bond with Corey and grateful for his son’s reception to any advice.

“My job is trying to keep him from getting out of hand. He can get emotional,” Richard said. “But he’s only had one technical foul in all the time he’s been coaching. There are those times when I talk to him as one of his coaches, and then when he hears Dad, he knows to listen.”

No matter what happens during the rest of the season, that father-son bond isn’t going away. But it would be fitting if soon, another section banner is raised in Kiski Area’s gymnasium.

“A section title?” Musselman said. “That’s the goal.”

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