Coach Smith resigns

By now, I'm sure most everyone in South Arkansas has heard the rumors about why Corey Smith abruptly resigned as El Dorado's girls basketball coach last week. I talked to Corey before he stepped down and he told me he was considering his options. I was still surprised when he turned in his resignation.
Admittedly, I've only heard Corey's side of the story but I do believe him. He made a mistake, a bad mistake, even a dumb mistake. But, I really don't believe his job was in jeopardy if he had stayed and explained himself.
Of course, I could be wrong and the decision was his and his wife's to make. They did what they had to do and they've elected to move on and put this incident behind them.
As I'm sure you've noticed by how I'm writing this, I'm not going to repeat any of the rumors about what happened. You'll have to hear those for yourself and, by now, they shouldn't be that hard to find.
I will say, I think Corey Smith is a good guy. I'm sure he'll land on his feet and will be a good coach or administrator or teacher or whatever it is he chooses to do in the future. I am disappointed he left, however.
This reminds me of when ol' man Brad Slatton left El Dorado, although for very different reasons. Slatton had done a lot of the dirty work, put in a lot of time and effort to lay the groundwork for a successful program. He left before reaping the fruits of his labor.
I believe Corey has left a program that is on the way up, too. He worked hard trying to develop winning attitudes in his players. It wasn't a physical battle for Coach Smith. His task was getting his kids to believe they could, not only win, but win big games against really good teams.
They hadn't done that, yet, but I believe they were on their way. Whoever replaces Coach Smith will have a difficult job but it will be a lot less difficult because of Corey's tenure at El Dorado.