Former Cavaliers Smith, Brittain now coaching hoops in Catawba Co.

Patrick Smith and Justin Brittain both grew up in Burke County, and now each is coaching boys basketball in Catawba County. Smith has been the head coach at St. Stephens High School since 2018, while Brittain was hired as the head coach at Maiden High the following year.

The pair played basketball together at East Burke High, from where Smith graduated in 2008. Smith also played soccer for the Cavaliers, while Brittain also participated in football and baseball at EB from 2005-08 before transferring to Maiden, from where he graduated in 2009.

Both fondly remember what it was like to go to the annual Fat Friday football games against Freedom, Smith as a member of the student section and Brittain as a player. And they immensely enjoyed competing in front of the EB fans on the hardwood as well.

“I think the biggest thing I remember is that was before Draughn and Patton, and (we had) the rivalry with East Burke and Freedom,” said Smith. “It was just the Fat Fridays and how big sports were for two big 4A schools … just the expectations and the things that came with it. But the excitement that a game night was, it was pretty fun to be at East Burke for football and basketball, and one of the best football teams and basketball teams when we were there. It was pretty special to be a part of and a great community and great fan base, and I was excited to play for it. The environment I think is what I remember most about playing at East Burke.”

“When I was a kid, that was what you saw: East Burke-Freedom,” added Brittain. “Basketball stands were packed out, football stands were packed out, you had to wait. Fat Friday was standing-room only, and growing up I always had an interest in basketball and football and all those things, but you see that and you’re like, ‘This is what I want to do, I want to be a part of this one day.’ And no doubt about it, the Fat Fridays were great. … I don’t know if there will be many rivalries like East Burke and Freedom back in the day. Those were the days.”

One of Smith’s biggest coaching influences is Billy Anderson, who was EB’s boys basketball coach during his junior season and is now coaching at West Caldwell. Prior to taking over the Warriors’ boys hoops program in 2018, Anderson spent a decade as the coach at East Carteret in Beaufort, with Smith serving as an assistant on his staff for several of those years, including when the Mariners made back-to-back 1A state championship appearances in 2014 and 2015 and won it all during the latter season.

Smith also credits Billy’s uncle, Danny, a 2022 North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame inductee, for “being a good role model for me.” Danny Anderson is currently the boys basketball coach at South Caldwell after previously holding the same title at Madison-Mayodan (now McMichael), Starmount, West Caldwell, and Maiden.

And Rob Bliss, who was EB’s boys basketball coach during Smith’s first two years at the prep level, “is one of the all-time greats,” according to Smith. He said that both Andersons and Bliss “are the guys that I really have tried to learn from, and it’s been special to have that kind of influence from the greats that have been in my life.”

Now a head basketball coach himself – he guided St. Stephens to a 9-15 record during the 2018-19 season before missing the 2019-20 campaign while serving the U.S. military in Kuwait, and the Indians are 2-10, 16-11, and 11-15 in the three seasons since his return – Smith said his goal is to use the sport “as a platform to create good husbands, good fathers, good role models in the community.”

“... I try to preach to my kids every day that once basketball ends, what did basketball do for you?” he said. “Does it create discipline? And I hope it’s more life lessons. We use basketball as a tool to do those things, but ultimately I want them to be better people and have discipline, have good character, and be good husbands and fathers whenever they leave Saint.”

Smith attributed St. Stephens’ turnaround over the past two seasons – the Indians’ 27 victories represent their best two-season win total since they won 32 games under Murphy Post from 2012-14 – to “having some normalcy” following his deployment and the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign. He said that when “you’re trying to instill your program, it takes three to four years to implement that … and I think we’re starting to see that.”

Smith called this year’s boys squad “probably the most overall talented team” he has coached at St. Stephens. But he’s also temporarily coaching the girls team “due to some health issues with Coach (Andy) Bennett,” and he has high hopes for the Lady Indians as well.

“We have a girls team that went 21-9 last year and is returning their three top scorers, so it’s a big task to take over both of them at the same time,” said Smith. “And I don’t know if that would have been my same answer of doing it if it wasn’t for that group of … high-character girls. We’re super excited about their expectations, and our goal is to have 20-win seasons for both the boys and girls this year, that would be a first in a long time for us here at St. Stephens.”

After hosting Draughn to open the season late Friday, the Indians also have a home game against East Burke scheduled for Nov. 28. Smith admitted there’s a little extra significance surrounding such games.

“With Draughn we always said, that core group of guys that were at East Burke when we made that strong run our senior year, we’re all kind of Heritage (Middle School) kids,” said Smith, who added that he “would’ve probably been a Draughn kid but it wasn’t around” until after he graduated. Thus, “the Draughn game is kind of special, you get to see a lot of people and stuff like that.”

As for the games against the Cavs, those just have “a different feel” to them. 

“I haven’t gotten to coach there in a regular-season game yet, we do some summer league stuff there, but they’re here this year and we’re looking forward to that,” said Smith. “But also (EB coach) Jerome (Ramsey) is a great guy, I love getting to see him whenever I get to see Jerome, he’s another role model to me. But they do mean a little bit more.

“It’s always about the kids and stuff like that, but next year when we go to East Burke I’ll take a look around the gym and soak it all in a little bit before we get to play, just because there’s a lot of memories there.”

Smith said that he will forever view his time as a Burke County native and a student-athlete at EB as “special,” stating that “just because I’m not there and I don’t live there, I’m always a Cavalier at heart.” Nevertheless, he hopes to spend the rest of his coaching and teaching career at St. Stephens.

“People ask me, ‘How long are you gonna be there?,’ and I see myself retiring here,” he said. “I hope we can build something here and continue to build it. I think we’re going in the right direction and they give me the ability to do those things, and it’s exciting.”

Sixteen miles up the road from St. Stephens, Brittain is now in his fifth season at the helm of Maiden’s boys program. He said that despite having a fairly young team this year, “we’ve got a little bit of depth where we don’t have a big drop-off after we start subbing in.” 

The Blue Devils were 7-18 in 2019-20, Brittain’s first season as head coach after he previously served as an assistant under Danny Anderson. They improved to 7-7 during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, and they have finished 20-8 and 22-5 over the past two seasons while tying for the Catawba Valley 2A Conference title in 2021-22 and finishing second in 2022-23.

“The athletic department as a whole is exceptional,” said Brittain, who noted that at the time he was hired to coach and teach at Maiden, the aforementioned Bliss was the school’s principal. Given that Bliss was the head boys basketball coach at EB during his freshman season of high school, Brittain knew him well “and would bump into him at random times” throughout the years.

The Blue Devils graduated 10 seniors prior to Brittain’s first year in charge, and he said that “any time you lose that many seniors, it’s gonna be tough.” But Maiden’s winning percentage has increased each subsequent season, and Brittain believes that’s because the players are now “kind of buying into the system we’ve got here,” one that’s “hopefully gotten to the point where we can sustain it for a while and see what happens.”

Brittain transferred to Maiden as a high school senior after his father took a job with Duke Energy in Gastonia. But as a child he attended Hildebran and Ray Childers elementary schools – his mother still teaches at the latter – East Burke Middle School, and then East Burke High. 

Brittain acknowledges that Tommy Blanton, who coached him at EBMS and is now an assistant at EBHS, had “a big impact on me,” as did Chip Lewis, who’s now the head football coach at Table Rock Middle School but has held numerous jobs in Burke County during his coaching and teaching career. Billy Anderson is another coaching influence, and “that’s also a crazy one” because he’s now coaching at West Caldwell, Maiden’s top competition in the CVAC over the past two seasons.

According to Brittain, his time as a sophomore basketball player under Anderson at EBHS played a major role in him deciding to coach and teach. He is thankful for the guidance provided by Anderson, Lewis, and Blanton – the latter of whom was assisted by Kewun McDaniel, one of Brittain’s current assistants at Maiden, at EBMS.

“Whenever I got over here at Maiden, I was trying to get Kewun over here for a long time just because I’ve kept in touch with him,” said Brittain. “We’ve talked regularly all through high school and college and stayed in touch … and finally got him over here.”

Since conference realignment in 2021, Maiden and EB have both been members of the CVAC. Brittain said that due to not being in the same conference for a long period of time, the Blue Devils and Cavs aren’t necessarily rivals like Maiden and Newton-Conover are, but “it’s always good seeing Jerome (Ramsey), always good seeing Tommy (Blanton), and those other guys.”

“They run a good program over there,” said Brittain, whose Blue Devils host EB on Dec. 15 and visit the Cavs on Jan. 26, with a home game against nonconference Patton scheduled for Dec. 5. “They’re top-of-the-line guys and that’s the same guys that I knew from back then. … And when you show up over there you see a bunch of people you went to school with and parents of people you went to school with, so it’s good.

“The rec programs … were always great when I was coming through there, when it was the East Burke-Freedom rivalry. So it was blue and red then and now it’s Maiden and Newton, blue and red there.”

At the end of the day, Brittain hopes to take what he’s learned along the way and pass it on to the players he coaches. He specifically emphasizes having “discipline” and “passion for the game.”

“We want to have good relationships on and off the floor,” said Brittain, “but in between let’s have some discipline and get after it.”

Josh McKinney can be reached at 828-445-8595 or josh@thepaper.media.