May 4, 2017 3 min read

When Waynesburg University President Douglas Lee summoned Chris Smithley to his office this week, Smithley wondered why.

It turns out, the president was going to make him an offer Smithley couldn’t refuse.

Lee asked the 30-year-old Smithley to become the Interim Head Football Coach at Waynesburg, replacing Rick Shepas, who retired March 6.

“We went through a search and for whatever reasons … it didn’t go in the manner we had hoped,” said Smithley. “The timing was out of season for seeking a head coach. Continuity was important for our university. I had talks with President Lee on how important it is. When we didn’t feel like we found the best fit, President Lee called me in and I accepted.”

Smithley was not in the final cut of applicants for the position. In fact, he never applied for the job.

“To be honest, the reason I didn’t was because I’m a younger guy and we had two older guys on staff,” Smithley said. “I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries. I just got here last year. I didn’t feel that was my place but it also doesn’t mean that head coaching wasn’t in my five-year plan coming here last year.”

Smithley was the offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at Waynesburg last season, his eighth in the coaching ranks. Smithley spent the previous four seasons at Washington & Jefferson College, where he was secondary coach, linebackers coach and special teams coordinator.

Smithley’s first coaching stop was actually a dual job. He was a volunteer coach at Waynesburg in the spring of 2009, after finishing his playing career as quarterback in the 2008 season. While Smithley was working on his degree, he took an internship at Indiana University under head coach Lou Tepper and coached there the same time he coached at Waynesburg.

“I pushed myself pretty hard that semester,” he said. “I coached with Coach Pepper Monday, Wednesday and Saturday morning. At Waynesburg, our spring practice schedule fit perfectly: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday. I was coaching seven days a week trying to prove myself.”

Smithley said he doesn’t worry about the word “interim” before his title and vows to work hard enough and be successful enough to someday have it removed.

“I feel strongly the university believes in me,” he said. “I’m going to treat this as being a head football coach. I’m not looking at it as an interim. The university will evaluate what I’ve done and we’ll see where this thing goes after the season. My goal is to stay with this team.”

Smithley graduated from Laurel Valley High School in 2005. The school no longer exists after merging with Ligonier Valley. He was a first team all-conference lineman and also played basketball and hockey.

Waynesburg finished last season with a 2-8 record, including a 2-6 mark in the conference.

“I’m very confident that with the guys around me and the guys in this program, I think we can move forward,” Smithley said. “I think the young guys we bring in through recruiting will be very important to us in what we’re trying to do. We have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in.”