Interview: Lusher football coach J.J. Smith J.J. Smith leans on vast playing experience, leadership

As a product of Raytown, Missouri just southeast of Kansas City, J.J. Smith has assimilated well to the south in New Orleans.

Smith was an excellent running back at Kansas State, amassing 2,210 yards rushing and 22 touchdowns rushing and he caught 64 passes for 546 yards and three touchdowns. Smith left Kansas State with the record for the most rushing yards in a career, the most 100-yard rushing games and the most rushing yards in a game.

Smith went to the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 1995 but a knee injury curtailed his professional career. He did return a punt 50 yards for a touchdown in a preseason game for the Chiefs.

While the knee injury ending his playing days for good, Smith turned to coaching.

In 2004, he worked with the Chiefs as part of the Bill Walsh Minority Internship program before serving a brief stint in NFL Europe as an assistant coach with Frankfurt.

Smith gained a different perspective for the game, serving as an analyst for high school and college football games on Time Warner and Fox Midwest for over six years.

As the owner and director of GoalLine Sports Performance, Smith directed a training program to enhance the speed, agility and overall performance of players for nearly 19 years.

Then, Smith became the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Lusher Charter under Louis Landrum, the school’s first head coach.

In 2018, Smith took over the Lions program as head coach and he is set to enter his third season in that capacity in 2020.

The Lions went 3-8 in 2018, falling to Archbishop Hannan in the Division II playoffs before improving to 4-7 against a very tough schedule in 2019, falling to University Lab in the playoffs.

Competing as a 4A school in Division II, Lusher Charter, known for its academic excellence, has struggled a bit with regard to numbers as compared to the schools it competes with.

With the pandemic engulfing the world, nation, state and metropolitan area, it has been a challenge for Smith and his Lion program but they have embraced it as he shared on All Access on 106.1 FM Friday night.

“Just like the game, you’ve got to know how to adjust,” Smith said. “The teams that adjust are the ones that are successful. In some ways, I think it’s kind of helped us out a little bit. We’ve focused on other things. We’ve had the time to get right to it with 90 minutes of going straight at it. The guys have been working hard.”

Smith has adapted very well to the Crescent City and is appreciative of the facilities that Drew Brees helped provide.

“I love New Orleans,” Smith said. “I’ve been here for 11 years. It’s nice to have Brees Family Field, most definitely. To be able to walk out there and practice every evening, it’s an excellent field with grass and a good draining system and it’s a good atmosphere in there when it’s packed.”

While Lusher is not known for its football success, the Lions have had players roar at the next level.

“Keyan Williams was at Nebraska and now he is home at Tulane as a coach,” Smith said. “Two of our corners were starting at Jackson State for three years right from Lusher,” Smith said. “One of our safeties just graduated from Louisiana Tech and he was a walk-on who became a defensive captain. Our running back last year, Miles Stewart, is going to West Point and just had some phenomenal numbers at Lusher. Ari Broussard is pushing for a starting job at Rice as a sophomore running back.”

Smith likes a lot about his team in 2020.

“We have all of our defense, just about, coming back,” Smith said. “We lost a safety but we have three starters coming back in our secondary. Jared Albert is a 6-foot-two corner who is getting faster and faster. Cornell offered him. His brother graduated from Harvard. We have Jonathan Gilyard, our safety who was voted all-district. He’s a ranked amateur boxer. He’s got a right hook that will take a lot of people out. He is a perfect student, perfect athlete.”

“Our whole defensive line is coming back. We’ve got some size. We were riddled with injuries the last two years. Our last game last year against U-High, we started three freshman on the offensive line. We had a lot of guys who had to play both ways and this year, we will not have to do that as much. These guys want it. These guys have dreams of being great and they are putting the work in to make it happen.”

Whether in Missouri or Louisiana, the issue of race relations and relations between African-Americans and law enforcement remains a concern.

“There’s problems everywhere,” Smith said. “The history of Missouri, that’s the line that kicked off the Civil War. Kansas was free and Missouri was a slave state. It’s prevalent. It’s there, like in every city probably across America from Missouri down to the south. You go through all kind of challenges.”

Smith has had his own very difficult experiences to relay to his players.

“I told some of the guys I could have been George Floyd,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, I’ve been in situations where my face was down on the concrete. I had handcuffs on. We’ve got to stay prayed-up out here and do the best we can to teach our young people the right ways and trying to give them a little bit of the past so they can know where they’re going. It’s good to have good people around you like I had coming up.”

The instruction from home was clear.

“What my mom used to tell me was ‘be careful out there,’ she meant it,” Smith said. “Not just be careful and don’t get hurt but come home. At the time, I think I was 23-years-old, second year with the Chiefs so I had a lot of money in my pocket, I had a nice car.

“I’m young, I had nice rims on my car. I don’t know why but my music was so loud. I was driving, the police saw me driving and they made a U-turn, I believe because I had a nice car and I was black. The next thing you know, I didn’t tell them I was a Chief, they just didn’t recognize me and they were really harassing me, treating me bad and next thing, I’m face-down with cuffs on.”

Smith recalls vivid details of what happened next.

I remember I had an all white sweat suit on and brand new shoes,” Smith said. “I never told them I played for the Chiefs. I was just like, ‘why are you doing this? I told you I don’t have any guns or any drugs. Why are you harassing me?’ People started pulling over because they saw something wasn’t looking right. Some people knew me and said my name. All of a sudden, everything changes. It’s frustrating. You understand that because people are don’t know, they don’t understand or they just profile, thinking this guy’s doing something wrong, rather than giving them the benefit of the doubt.”

What does Smith try to impart to the diverse group of young men he now coaches at Lusher?

“We talk about a lot,” Smith said. “The game and the sport teaches life’s lessons. A lot of things come up through what we do in the game or in practice or training that are just perfect examples. It’s an African proverb, it takes a village. It takes good parents that support these kids every day and keeping them active and keeping them doing something that they love to do and enhancing the kids’ passions. It takes our support system at school to support them every day. Every year, some of our alumni come back and impart wisdom on them.”

There is much to overcome but there is optimism that it can be overcome.

“You have people that grow up in a certain way,” Smith said. “Their parents have certain beliefs or the people in their life have certain beliefs an d they take on those same beliefs. It’s important for people to be mindful and to understand and treat people with respect and treat, be responsible for teaching yours and building them up with a good spirit and a good heart. Everything else will fall into place. When they get out on their own, they see people for people, not what they look like but what’s in their heart, what’s in their spirit.”

The spirit and heart of Smith is as huge as a Lion and his experiences as a player at a high level, as a coach and on the streets will continue to serve those he encounters and mentors at Lusher Charter in outstanding fashion.