LIKE IT IS

John L. follows wife’s tears to Fayetteville

— It was intentional, very intentional, but it came from John L. Smith’s heart without a hint of being a shot.

In his first news conference as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Smith brought his wife up first and then many times.

When Smith talks about his wife, he is also talking about his best friend, his soul mate and literally the love of his life.

They were born one day apart in the same hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He went back to his home in the country, and Diana went to hers in the city.

By junior high he was riding the bus to the city and they were going to the same school, where maybe every once in a while they sneaked off to smooch, and they became sweethearts in high school. For life.

“I’ve dragged her all over the country to coaching jobs and she’s never complained,” he said. “I coached, and she took care of our kids and me.”

When Smith had the epiphany that maybe he was the answer to Jeff Long’s problem, he talked to his wife before the final decision.

“I didn’t think it was fair to make her move again when I’d promised that we’d made our last move,” he said.

Diana cried.

She cried because of the wonderful opportunity that had presented itself to the love of her life.

Every Division I job Smith has ever taken as a head coach was a challenge. It was a place that needed building or rebuilding.

He did well enough at Utah State to get the Louisville job. He did well enough there to get to Michigan State, where he didn’t do as well and was terminated.

What most people don’t know was that was where he found a mountain to climb that was bigger than football. Something that ran much deeper than victories and losses.

Diana had gastro cancer.

They were told it was terminal.

“It was the toughest times of our lives,” Smith said.

One opinion led to another and then to another, and finally they were told there was more than hope. There was a surgery that would take care of the problem, and it did.

They left East Lansing, Mich., practically hand-inhand and went back to Louisville, where despite leaving the football program he was still popular enough to land on a daily radio talk show.

It wasn’t until Bobby Petrino called three years ago that Smith entertained the thought of returning to football.

They didn’t put their house on the market when they left Louisville, but more than a year ago when Smith was sure he needed to stay in football they went back, cleaned it up and put it on the market.

At Arkansas, Smith was part of a staff that helped guide the Hogs to a 21-5 record over the past two seasons. He took a 50 percent pay cut to go to Weber State as the head coach last December, only to turn around less than five months later and get more than three times his original Arkansas salary and the title of head coach at Arkansas.

Smith knows he’s taking heat for leaving Weber State without coaching a game — no, not close to what Petrino got for leaving the Atlanta Falcons before the end of the NFL season — but the one pressing thing on his mind was the Arkansas players.

“I had a few texts and calls from them,” he said. “They are a great bunch of young men, and I knew there was a great staff here, so I called Jeff and surprisingly he was receptive.”

Before Smith could accept the job, he had to hear how Diana felt. She insisted they come back.

Smith was excited, enthusiastic and energetic Tuesday at his formal announcement as head coach. More important, he was ready to embrace the expectations.

“I know what the fans expect. So do the players, the staff and me,” he said. “We are going for the national championships. I just hope I don’t goof it up. This program doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to the state of Arkansas.’

John L. Smith has a sense of humor, but more important, a strong sense of home.

Sports, Pages 19 on 04/25/2012