Charles H. "Sonny" Smith (born November 15, 1936) is a retired American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. Originally from

Roan Mountain, Tennessee Roan Mountain is a census-designated place (CDP) in Carter County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,360 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City&nd ...

, Smith served as a head coach for 22 seasons. Best known as the head coach at

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

from 1978 to 1989, he also coached at East Tennessee State (1976–1978) and VCU (1989–1998). Smith won the 1985 SEC tournament championship while at Auburn, and won both the

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regular season and

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titles in 1996 while at VCU. He made six NCAA tournament appearances as a head coach, five at Auburn and one at VCU. Smith was inducted into the

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fame ...

in 2007.

East Tennessee State

Sonny Smith was hired by East Tennessee State in 1976. He coached the Buccaneers for two seasons before leaving to become the head coach at

. Smith finished with a record of 30–23 (.566) while at East Tennessee State.

Auburn

Sonny Smith was hired by

in the summer of 1978 after the recently hired

Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...

died in a hotel fire. Smith took the Auburn job despite returning all of his starters from the year before and moving into a new arena at East Tennessee State. Smith guided Auburn to its first ever NCAA tournament appearance in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

, led by future

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player

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the Natio ...

. The Tigers were upset in the First Round, however, by the 12th-seeded

Richmond Spiders The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. The Spider na ...

. Smith was named SEC Coach of the Year following the 1984 season. The 1985 regular season was considered a letdown, with the Tigers going 8–10 in conference play. Before the

SEC tournament The Southeastern Conference (SEC) sponsors nine men's sports and twelve women's sports. This is a list of conference champions for each sport. Also see the list of SEC national champions. Members The SEC was established on December 1932, when t ...

, Smith announced his plan to retire at the end of the season. However, Smith and tournament MVP

Chuck Person Chuck Connors Person (born June 28, 1964) is an American former basketball player and coach. Person played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was the 1987 NBA Rookie of the Year. Person played college basketball at Aubur ...

led Auburn to its first ever SEC tournament championship, winning four games in four days for the first time in tournament history. He then coached that team to the Sweet Sixteen of the 1985 NCAA tournament. Following this success, and despite receiving an offer from his former school, East Tennessee State, Smith decided to remain at Auburn. Smith would go on to lead the Tigers to three more NCAA Tournament appearances, making it as far as the

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1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. This streak of five straight NCAA Tournament appearances is the longest in Auburn history. Smith was again named SEC Coach of the Year following the 1988 season. Following a losing season in 1989, Smith left Auburn to become the head coach at VCU, citing his doubts that he could return Auburn to the success of the previous five seasons. His record at Auburn was 173–154 (.529). Until 2020, he was the only coach in Auburn men's basketball history to have three consecutive 20-win seasons.

VCU

Though he did not achieve the level of success that he had while at

, Sonny Smith's tenure at VCU was not without its bright spots. In his fourth season he led the Rams to 20 wins and an invitation to the 1993 NIT. Smith's best season at VCU was his seventh, the 1995–96 season. VCU had just left the struggling

Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members did n ...

to become a member of the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

, and Smith led them to success in the new conference immediately. The Rams won both the CAA regular season and

championships, earning Smith's only NCAA tournament bid at VCU. Smith was named CAA Coach of the Year at the end of the season. Smith retired at the end of the 1997–98 season, with his longtime assistant coach

Mack McCarthy William Leroy "Mack" McCarthy (born July 3, 1952) is the former head college basketball coach for East Carolina University. On March 6, 2010, athletic director Terry Holland announced that McCarthy would complete the season as head coach and then m ...

taking over as head coach at VCU. Smith finished at VCU with a record of 136–127 (.517), and an overall head coaching record of 339–304 (.527).

Broadcasting career

After retiring from coaching, Smith joined his friend and former

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coach

Wimp Sanderson Winfrey "Wimp" Sanderson (born August 8, 1937) is a retired American college basketball coach. He coached at the University of Alabama from 1981 to 1992 and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1994 to 1999. Sanderson was born in Flore ...

on a sports talk radio show "The Sonny and Wimp Show" on WJOX-AM in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. The show ran for more than six years before it was canceled in 2006. From 2003 to 2014, Smith provided the

color commentary A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

for the

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Game of the Week on

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. Smith currently works alongside Andy Burcham as the color commentator for Auburn men's basketball games on the Auburn Sports Network radio broadcast.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sonny 1936 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Auburn Tigers basketball broadcasters Auburn Tigers men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Tennessee Basketball players from Tennessee College basketball announcers in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball coaches Holmes Community College alumni Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Milligan Buffaloes men's basketball players People from Carter County, Tennessee VCU Rams men's basketball coaches William & Mary Tribe men's basketball coaches Guards (basketball)