July 19, 2007

     MIDDLETOWN - Director of Athletics Michael Pitruzzello has announced that Robert Smernoff is the new girls basketball coach at Middletown High School.
     Smernoff, a Health/PE teacher at MHS, replaces Dean Wilborn, who abruptly resigned at the school's winter sports banquet. Smernoff has been the junior varsity coach under Wilborn for three years and was the boys junior varsity coach for two years prior to that. His JV girls team has had a winning record in each of his seasons at the helm and was 14-4 last winter.
     "Whenever you can, when things are equal, I like to appoint from within," said Pitruzzello. "That gives the coach direct communication with his student-athletes. They see the kids every day and gives a coach a chance to develop good chemistry with his kids. When a teacher has a problem with a kid, the teacher can go directly to the coach. It makes it much easier to work with kids. "I believe that's the best learning situation."
     "I see a lot of potential in our program," Smernoff said. "We have a lot of good younger players and in the past few weeks I've seen a stronger commitment developing in the community. I see middle schoolers playing twice a week and we have kids playing in the summer program at Wilson Middle School.
     "We also have older kids playing in the summer league at Conard High in West Hartford. This is not a one-man job; we need community support from all levels and I want to help to build that."
     Smernoff said that his on-court goal is to qualify and compete at the state level. "That's very reasonable in two or three years," he said. "I'm involved in basketball programs all over the state and I know we can compete. There's enough talent in our school to make that happen. "Off the court, I want people to look at our basketball team not only as good players, but as people who are good in the classroom. I'm a teacher first and that's very important to me."
     Smernoff pointed to his successful junior varsity teams, and the emergence of Raven Wright-James, who was all league as a freshman and Taylor Nkonoki who was All-County as a sophomore, as positive developments. "Those players, what's gone on at the jayvee level and the kids playing at all levels give me cause for optimism," he said.
     Pitruzzello said that Smernoff's enthusiasm for the sport was a key factor in the decision to offer him the post. "Rob eats, sleeps and drinks basketball," said Pitruzzello. "He's a natural. He's involved with kids and their parents and that parental involvement is very important to me as AD."
     Smernoff is a UConn alumnus and was the manager of the UConn women's basketball team from 1993-1997. He was at every practice and every game for that time and was on the bench when UConn beat Tennessee for the National Championship at the Target Center in Minneapolis. "You know how in those championship pictures there's always people no one knows?," he asked. "Well, I'm one of those guys in the picture nobody knows."