In a career that has spanned more than 25 years, not a lot has changed for Randy Smithpeters.
Since he was hired at Harrisburg High School -- his first and only head coaching job -- he's been steadfast on the sidelines.
Sure, the hairs have gotten more gray.
The mustache has become more of a goatee.
The sport coat has been replaced by the sweater vest.
After that, the foot stomping and burning-fire passion Smithpeters coaches with has put the McLeansboro native in good company as he joined 500 career wins club this past weekend when his Bulldogs took down West Frankfort.
The recognition of a coaching milestone was something Smithpeters admitted he wasn't interested in and remained humble in his acceptance of being honored.
"As people bring that up, what I'm thankful for and blessed with is just a lot of good teams in the past and a lot of good players that contributed to all of this," Smithpeters said. "I got no points and no rebounds in those 500 wins. What I do have is a lot of good memories, a lot of good people and I feel very blessed to have that opportunity."
Smithpeters, who remains just one of four area coaches that has remained at the same school for at least 20 years, joining Massac County's Joe Hosman, Murphysboro's Daryl Murphy and Carbondale's Jim Miller all now have at least 500 wins.
Among active coaches, Hosman has the most with 770-plus and Smithpeters (502) is getting closer to being a Top 50 coach in Illinois. Hardin County's Glen Oxford is at No. 50 with 515 wins and former Benton great and SIU head coach Rich Herrin is a couple of spots ahead at 521 wins.
In reference to his first win, Smithpeters says he doesn't remember it, but he does have very fond memories of his first season at Harrisburg.
"I actually don't remember number one," he said. "I remember the first year because we won the Regional and that was the first Regional Harrisburg won in 28 years. I thought was odd but it is what it is. Ryan Hobbs was on that team and Dale Overstreet. Marty Nicholes, C.R. Rath, Marcus Questelle, Brad Ziegler and Damon Lampley. That was a super group of athletes. We played the Regional up at Carmi and beat a very good McLeansboro team in the championship. The center of that team was (Benton head coach) Ron Winemiller."
In his interview, Smithpeters' cell phone was a constant ding of congratulations texts and phone calls.
He looks down, a lot of them -- former players.
"That's one of the things about athletics and one of the great things about coaching is the friendships if that's the right word. Most of the time it's more than a friendship, it's a little bit thicker than that, you have for life. That means a ton, that means everything about doing this job. I've been very lucky to have good teams, good players, good people, good coaches sitting beside me."
In his time at Harrisburg, Smithpeters has 14 20-win seasons, to go along with, 12 Regionals, six Sectionals and two Super Sectionals and five Southern Illinois River-To-River Conference Ohio Division Championships.
It all culminated with the school's first state championship in the 2012-13 season when the Bulldogs beat Seaton Academy 50-44, in a season where Harrisburg went 33-1.
By the way, win No. 368 and for the record -- the one -- that Smithpeters said means the most.
Smithpeters journey has been a long and winding one, beginning at McLeansboro High School, where he was an assistant for Curt Reed.
Reed, who is now the head coach at Thompsonvile, had a 42-year career at McLeanbsoro, where he went 805-442 for a .646 win percentage.
After the win over West Frankfort as Smithpeters sat back in the same chair he just got done coaching in, thoughts of the early days and his relationship with Reed flooded his memory.
"He'd grab me by the neck or shake my hand until he'd break every bone in my hand!" Smithpeters joked. "Curt is a great guy, a great friend, a great coach. He's been in it a long time like I have. Curt realizes and wants to make the presentation of being the tough guy but he's got a heart as big as a lion. He's helped more kids than you can imagine over the years that people don't even know about. He doesn't want you to know about it and wants to maintain that tough guy but he helps a ton of people."
Staying on at one school for 28 years doesn't happen very often in today's world of athletics. Perhaps it's not much of a secret, but Smithpeters does believe he has an ace up his sleeve.
"I think one thing I'm very happy with myself is the fact that I've been able to adjust to the student-athlete of 2021. It's far different from the one that I started with or going back to the 70's where it was just a whole different world compared to now. That's a must if you're going to coach. You could not coach with the standards that you had in the 70's, 80's, and 90's or even probably 10 years ago. You have to constantly adjust to the players. I appreciate the fact that I've been able to do that. I think it's very important and I enjoy doing that because the only way you're going to help kids is if you can relate to them and if you have a relationship with them. I think coaching has changed in that. I never had a relationship with my coaches cause you didn't back then. You did what they told you and that is all that mattered. Now you need a relationship with each and every player so that you can communicate and understand them better. That's just coaching in 2021."
Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
