During the last block of the day on a Thursday afternoon, new head basketball coach, Trent Smith, entered room 3060N filled with Scroll members ready to ask smith about his life on the Eastside. Smith’s pride and joy of being an Eastsider flowed as he described his experiences at East. Whether it’s being a student, coach, counselor, or hall monitor, East is in his blood.

A majority, of Smith’s life has been spent coaching. From starting as an assistant coach for Saydel’s women’s basketball team 12 years ago, to currently being East’s head coach for boys basketball. Smith Coached two years for the women’s basketball program at Grandview University, one year at AIB college, worked for the Iowa Energy team for one year, as well as coaching volleyball, women’s soccer, and women’s basketball here at East. Although Smith has had many coaching experiences, he has always enjoyed coaching at East.

“It’s one of those things like, this is where I am from, so I want to be able to give back to the place I graduated from because they have done so much for me. If East hadn’t left an impact on me I wouldn’t be back here working and coaching,” Smith said

Over the past decade, East has struggled with their basketball program, and Smith plans to change that, on and off of the court. Smith’s main goal is to prepare his student athletes for the rest of their life whether or not basketball is involved.

“My goal is to have a team full of guys that actually are student athletes, guys that go to class, that actually do their work on the school side of things. Then when they get on the court they also do their work there. That is my number one goal to have kids ready, so once they leave my program they can go on and be successful,” Smith said.

Smith admitted that he wished the culture around East was better. He hopes basketball could be a factor in changing the negative stigma that many people attach to East, although many people don’t know what East is actually like.

“East gets a bad rep about everything it seems like, and that just wasn’t and isn’t the case, you have so much support from the community here at East… I mean, I wouldn’t be who I am if I wasn’t here at East, because I wouldn’t have had the same experiences,” Smith said.

Smith, being the fourth head basketball coach for East in the past five years, definitely brings doubt to the East community. But Smith believes he has what it takes to raise the standard. On the school side of things, the basketball team has already improved in terms of attendance, behavior, and grades.

“As far basketball itself i want to win some games, I mean the great thing is that after last year there is only way to go and that is up,” Smith said.

During the process of hiring a new head basketball coach, athletic director Lyle Fedders had Smith as one of the top candidates the whole time. Smith’s experience and background at East landed him the position.

“Trent’s experience as a coach at the collegiate and high school level put him in a situation that he was one of our top candidates.  He also graduated from East and was part of the basketball program during our last winning season. Trent also has a great knowledge of what is needed to turn our program around due to working at East and coaching at East in multiple capacities over the past 10 years” Fedders said.