Anderson County’s Smith picks up ‘Coach of the Year’ award
Anderson County’s Jayme Smith was selected as Prep Extra’s Coach of the Year by the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
The award is given every year to the volleyball coach in East Tennessee who is judged to have had the best season, and nominations are made from other coaches throughout East Tennessee.
Jayme Smith has been with the Lady Mavericks ever since her own high school days, when she was co-captain of the first team from the school to make it to the state quarter-finals. After that, she went on to a volleyball scholarship before returning as an assistant coach and teacher at Anderson County. She was an assistant coach for the Mavericks when Anderson County won its first volleyball state championship in 1999. After a short stint at Oak Ridge, Smith returned to her alma mater.
This has been the Lady Mavericks’ 11th state Final Four.
This year’s team had no seniors, along with two dropped starters at the beginning of the season due to injuries.
Anderson County’s volleyball program is a storied one, with only five coaches holding the reins of the program since the school’s opening in 1982.
All five coaches have received Coach of the Year awards, a first in East Tennessee.
The school has produced nearly 50 collegiate volleyball players, as well as more than 70 All-State players.