Brentwood Academy's Hubie Smith is Tennessean boys basketball coach of the year

Michael Murphy
The Tennessean
Brentwood Academy boys basketball coach Hubie Smith yells to his team during their game of the TSSAA Division II-AA basketball state championship against Baylor at Lipscomb University on Saturday. Brentwood Academy won 50-44.

Brentwood Academy’s Hubie Smith joined a pretty exclusive club last month, becoming just the third boys basketball coach in TSSAA history to win four consecutive state titles. 

He’s the first to admit, however, the program’s historic run wouldn’t have been possible without star point guard Darius Garland

“He was so much better than even the next best player anywhere in Middle Tennessee,” Smith said of Garland, a five-star Vanderbilt signee who averaged 27.6 points as a senior. “I’m not trying to offend anyone, he’s just that good.”

But even with one of the nation’s top players at his disposal, it’s not as though the Eagles were playing on autopilot, especially not this past season. 

“Overcoming adversity, we’ve had to do a lot of that,” said Smith, the 2018 Tennessean boys basketball coach of the year. “Not only school-wise, but basketball-wise.”

In addition to a $30 million lawsuit brought against the school in August alleging sexual assault of a then-middle school boys basketball player, the Eagles also had to overcome hurdles on the basketball court. 

First, one of the team’s few returning big men, Vanderbilt football signee Gavin Schoenwald, was ruled out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum suffered in the state football semifinals. 

“We actually moved Cam (Johnson) to a different position,” Smith said of the 6-foot-1 Johnson, who has also signed to play football at Vanderbilt. “He’d always been a wing/guard for us, but we moved him to our point forward position just because we were hurting and lacking in size.

Then, less than a month into the season, Garland and three other players were briefly suspended, resulting in an otherwise shocking 50-47 defeat at Battle Ground Academy.

A difficult 12-game stretch in a span of 25 days produced three more defeats — two against national top 25 foes Paul IV (Va.) and La Lumiere (Ind.). The following week, Brentwood Academy dropped its first region contest in close to two years, falling to Baylor 70-68 on a last-second shot from Patrick Urey.

A string of 13 straight wins to conclude the season, however, including a 50-44 championship triumph over Baylor, make the squad’s early season struggles seem like a distant memory.

“We won our last 13 games something like that and played just a brutal schedule,” Smith said. “To learn the things we learned and developed the way we did was really special. And then obviously we had Darius, who just had a phenomenal senior year.

“But it’s a lot easier when your two best players (Garland and Johnson) are also your hardest workers.” 

Reach Michael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-269-8026 and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports