Tom Poisal, Jonathan Smith named basketball coaches at Halls
Halls High School has hired Tom Poisal as girls basketball coach and Jonathan Smith as boys basketball coach to replace Randy Moore, who coached both programs the past eight seasons.
Moore resigned in June to pursue business opportunities in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Halls athletic director Meagan Miller couldn’t be happier with the school’s new coaches.
“We’re very excited about them coming on board,” Miller said Monday. “We had a lot, and I emphasize ‘a lot,’ of interest in these two positions. What it came down to was we wanted men or women with character to build the program and make our student-athletes better down the road. I think we found that in these two gentlemen.”
Both will be introduced to the Halls community on Monday, July 24, at 6 p.m. at the high school.
Poisal is no stranger to the Halls community. He’s been a wellness/physical education teacher at Halls Middle School since 2008, and from 2010-14 was the coach of the middle school girls team. He was boys coach at Gresham Middle School in 2016-17 while still teaching at Halls Middle School, where he will continue to teach.
“I’m coming into the job knowing about every player in the program personally,” Poisal said. “I think being right next door (at Halls Middle), I’ll have more of an opportunity to come into contact with kids at both schools, and that will help increase the numbers in the program.”
From 2008-10, Poisal was the junior varsity coach and assistant girls coach at Bearden under Nathan Hodges.
Poisal also has been an assistant/junior varsity boys coach at Monroe (Ga.) High (2006-07); boys and girls coach at Loganville (Ga.) Youth Middle (2004-06); girls coach at Carver Middle in Monroe, Ga. (2000-04); and junior varsity boys coach and assistant coach at Cedar Shoals High in Athens, Ga. (1997-99).
“Pretty much my whole career I’ve tried to fit my (basketball) philosophy around the talent on board,” Poisal said. “I’ve never been one to do the same thing every year and force the players into a system. I’ve just tried to find whatever works for the personnel I have.”
Smith, who played at St. George’s Independent High and Rhodes College in Memphis, has a similar approach. He was junior varsity coach and assistant boys coach at Morristown East for the past three seasons. His junior varsity teams went 43-16 in three seasons.
“I’ve kind of formed my offensive principles based on personnel,” Smith said. “In high school, we were kind of half-court, no pressing. At Morristown East, we were fast paced, and everything was fast break and transition. It just depends on the personnel, once I meet the guys and see them play.”
Smith played with Elliot Williams (Duke/Memphis/NBA player) at St. George’s, which reached the Division II-A state semifinals Smith’s junior year and the state championship game his senior year.
After two years at Rhodes College, Smith transferred to Carson-Newman, but didn’t play basketball. He graduated Carson-Newman in 2013 and earned his master’s degree from Carson-Newman in June.
“This is a position I’ve always dreamed of,” Smith said. “I’m very, very excited to be a part of the community, and I’ll bring a great level of excitement going into this opportunity.”
Dave Link is a freelance contributor.