CALDWELL Ore. – The College of Idaho Women's Soccer team is currently on a historic run of 23 wins in a row in Cascade Collegiate Conference regular season play. They have not lost a game to a CCC foe in the regular season since falling to Northwest University on October 28
th, 2022. The run of wins has seen Head Coach
Brian Smith become The College of Idaho's winningest soccer coach in school history. After the weekend of games,
Brian Smith has reached 210 wins to eclipse the mark Yotes Athletics Hall of Famer
John Calpin set with 208 wins. "To be in John's world is huge" said head coach
Brian Smith, more commonly known by his players and peers by Smitty. "John was my mentor and a player's coach and I wanted to learn from him".
Smitty took the reins from John Calpin as the men's soccer team as well as the director of soccer for The College of Idaho. He earned his first 82 wins with the men's soccer team. He coached the squad through the end of 2012 where he impressively also led the women's soccer team simultaneously. Since 2013, he has focused his attention on leading the women's soccer team where he has since added another 128 wins.
When asked about his favorite memories, Smitty always responds by expressing how proud he is of his teams that work together for the betterment of the group. He talked about his first team with his recruits in 2013 being special because of the rough start with only picking up a handful of wins. He had five or six freshmen start who bought into the vision of what the team could become. "They could've left but they stuck through it and became the catalyst of what the team is today" Smitty continued. The team has now made it five straight seasons getting births into the national tournament. The women's teams he has led are the winningest in both percentage and number.
He wasn't quick to forget the men's teams either. His 2008 men's team went 10-0 in the CCC which was a historic run and the only time a CCC men's team had gone unbeaten and untied. He is also very thankful for a long list of staff who helped him along the way and have gone on to have quality collegiate head coaching careers themselves.
"When I took over from John, I was like no way would I be here as long. He was here 18 years. Here I am, year 21". As the quest continues to reach the final site of the NAIA national tournament, he has achieved so far 6 CCC coaches of the year awards, over 50 All-CCC performers, over 30 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, and six NAIA All-Americans. He has appreciated the grind of all his athletes on the field but also in the classroom. Looking towards the post season and the years to come, "Off we go".
