Smith returns to lead JCD boys
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Scott Smith will return to the sidelines as the new varsity boys basketball coach at Jac-Cen-Del. Smith won 423 games and a Class A state title with JCD girls basketball.
When the game of basketball is in your blood and the desire to teach the game remains, you can step away as many times as you want but that sideline will always be calling your name.
That calling once again reached Ripley County Hall of Fame member Scott Smith and it is now leading him back to Jac-Cen-Del, this time around not on the girls side of the hardwood, but as the new head coach of the Eagle varsity boys basketball team.
Smith was approved as the new coach earlier this month by the Jac-Cen-Del school board. He takes over for Clint Bohman who went 72-56 during a five-year stint. Bohman won a pair of Class A sectional and regional titles during that time, made it to the Class A Final Four in 2022 and led the program to an Ohio River Valley Conference championship and Ripley County Tournament title. He resigned in March following the 2024-2025 boys basketball season.
Of course this newspaper has made mention of Smith’s accolades time and time again given the years spent as the varsity girls basketball coach in Osgood. He exited that program officially after the 2023-2024 campaign, finishing out by leading Jac-Cen-Del to back-to-back regional titles. The future Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee was 423-151 in 23 seasons, winning 18 sectionals -12 consecutive- six regional champions, a semi-state crown and a Class A state championship 2016.
In addition to all of those achievements in Class A on top of multiple county and conference crowns, Smith’s teams totaled 10 single-seasons of 20-plus wins and posted just two sub-.500 seasons during his tenure. He is currently ranked 25th all-time in wins on the girls basketball career coaching list.
The only coverage area basketball coach to have more career wins is former Jac-Cen-Del boys basketball coach Dave Porter. Porter coached at Sand Creek, Jac-Cen-Del and South Decatur and chalked up 485 victories.
Smith has already put together an offseason plan for the Eagles for both spring and summer. Jac-Cen-Del is set to return several key players from a young and rebuilding Jac-Cen-Del roster this past winter that went 6-17 in Bohman’s final season.
