Coach Jan Retires
Smith leaves behind 33 year coaching legacy
Clinton head swimming coach Jan Smith is retiring after more than 33 years of serving Clinton schools in that role. Current and past swim team members celebrated the milestone with ‘Coach Jan’ at a surprise retirement party held at Clinton High School on Thursday, Jan. 29. Pictured are: (from left) Morgan Smith, Jerry Smith, Jan Smith, Travis Smith, Laura Knott and Jarvis Marlow. (photo:Tony Cox )
She’s been a face around Clinton and the sport of swimming for more than five decades and that’s a relationship that won’t soon end,
“I told the kids that I won’t be their head coach anymore,” said Smith, who has been a head coach at Clinton High as well as working with the middle school since 1989. “But I’m not going anywhere.
“I’m not going to go home and just wait to die. As long as I’m able, I’m going to be around.”
Smith’s contributions to Clinton were celebrated at a retirement ceremony last week as the community honored her and the county commission honored her with a proclamation for her contributions to generations of Clinton swimmers.
She’s been a mentor but she also admits to learning from her athletes.
“When I started, we had 24 events and we had male and female swimmers and they all competed in two relays and two or three individual events,” Smith said, “And we had to enter all of that by hand, and then we went to computers and I didn’t know much about all that.
‘So I askead the kids, and they taught me about how to do all of that.”
Smith, like many longtime coaches, has an impact on her athletes and coaches. She’s been around for at least two generations.
Charley Goins, who now runs the city’s youth softball program, was a swimmer for Smith with the Clinton Sharks. His daughter, Amelia, is a freshman at CHS this year.
“Jan is a pillar of stability,” Goins said. “My first year swimming was her first year and I’m honored that my daughter is swimming for her during her last year.
“She’s coached since the 1989-90 season and then, she took four years off. She didn’t coach in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
“Her largest team was in 1993 when she had 47 swimmers and her smallest team was in 2019 when she had six swimmers. She took over when Lois Weir left to take over (the program) at (Anderson County Aquatics Club) in Oak Ridge, and I think the indoor pool over there is anmed for her.”
When Smith took over the scholastic program in Clinton, she had an immediate impact.
She encouraged one of the program’s current assistants, Jarvis Marlow, to pursue competitive swimming. Marlow would go on to swim at UNLV.
“Coach Jan encouraged me to become to become involved in competitive swimming and I became a collegiate swimmer, Marlow said. “And fast forward, I’m one of her assistants.”
Marlow was in the Class of 1994 and he was a captain for the Dragons.
Kimberly Braden (formerly Barlow), Class of 2007, said that Smith was always there for her.
“She was always there for us,” Braden said.
Smith was always a positive force for her athletes. She was a mentor and a motivator.
“Coach Jan was always there for me in the morning and she was always in my corner,” said Wesley Hill. “And I’m glad she’s my swim coach.”
Laura Knott, Clinton’s current assistant head coach, will succeed Smith as head coach, and her mentor has left a lasting impact on her.
“Her passion for swimming is surpassed only by her passion for her swimmers,” Knott said of Smith. “I’ve worked with her for four years, and she spreads love all around,”
