2010 Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner- Rollen T. Smith

Rollen Smith was a 20-year assistant football coach (1989-2009) at Ursuline High School under five different head coaches for the Irish. At Ursuline he coached the running backs and defensive backs. He was also the strength and conditioning coordinator. In his final two years, Ursuline won the State's Division V Championship. He was also a member of the staff in 2000 when the Irish won the Division IV crown posting a 14-1 mark. Ursuline qualified for the state playoffs 13 times during his tenure.

He lists his personal major accomplish- ments as an Ursuline coach as the relationship with the coaches and the players. Rollen added, "Ursuline High School has meant the opportunity to help young people and make a difference in their lives."

Rollen added that his fondest memory of Ursuline High School is "the day Coach Toth held Trevor Starghill "teddy bear" hostage until he started to produce." Two particular plays in his 20-year coaching career stand-out in his mind: Sean Penny's run against Lancaster as well as Trevor Starghill's run against Massillon Jackson.

He is a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School and a 1976 graduate of the University of Arkansas where he was an All-American defensive back and was a first- team All-Southwest Conference selection. Rollen was a team captain in 1974 and played in the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic. He was a sixth-round draft choice by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1975. Rollen played four seasons in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and the St. Louis Cardinals.

He is the Director of Programming for the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center. He has two sons: RollenT.Smith III and Trevor ,a sophomore at Ursuline.

Smith has served on the Mahoning County area AIDS task force since 1988, been a volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown since 1988 and been on the Mahoning Valley task force against crime since 1990. He has been involved with the Mahoning County Joint Vocational School, the Mahoning County Chemical Dependency Program, served as a case worker in Community Corrections and worked as a teacher and mentor at the Tod Vocational School.

Rollen recently accepted a position at Youngstown State University under new head coach and Ursuline graduate, Eric Wolford ('89). Rollen will serve as an assistant defensive line coach. Wolford said, "Rollen Smith is a person of high integrity, who has a tremendous reputation both as a football coach and for what he has done within the community. He is someone our players can talk to and his experiences can teach them a lot."

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Education

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• Ursuline
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[ChuckMBA]

Coach Smith, thank you for being such a great coach. I have a lot of great memories. You've made a big impact on me as a person. Yeager c/o 98'