The UBC Thunderbirds family is mourning the loss of legendary football coach Frank Smith. Smith passed away this week at the age of 93 . Frank Smith's name has long been synonymous with UBC football.  He was widely considered one of the most successful university coaches in Canadian history, and responsible for putting UBC football on the map. 
 
Smith didn't have an easy start in life. Born in 1931, he grew up in tough Vancouver orphanages during the Depression era, but football became a fascination for Smith and would serve as both an outlet and a way to a better life for the competitive youth. Smith played football at Vancouver College and then later at Olympic Junior College at Bremerton, Washington.

In 1953, 1955 and 1956 he played in the CFL with Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton and the B.C. Lions. When Smith was cut from the Lions in 1956, he transitioned into coaching, starting the football program at Notre Dame high school with the late Cal Murphy.


 
Smith went on to coach 18 seasons at the high school, junior college and university level before taking over as head coach of the UBC Thunderbirds in 1974. He stepped into the leadership role at a time when credibility and morale surrounding UBC football was at an all-time low. It turns out Frank Smith was exactly what the program needed.
 
He took hold of the failing UBC football program and turned it around completely. Hard work, the desire to win and the ability to spot and attract football talent were Smith's strengths that helped transform UBC into one of the most respected and successful programs in the country. All this despite the fact cross-town rival SFU was attracting much of the football attention and local talent.
 
"Frank Smith was a master recruiter, who could see a player's potential in high school, before they even began to fill out their frame; he also had an uncanny ability to sum up a player's character in a brief conversation. Thus, he filled his roster with athletic, coachable, team-oriented young men he could mold into champions - men he could 'go to war with." Jason (Mad Dog) Riley, 1982 Vanier Cup Champion.


 
Over the next 21 seasons, with trusty assistant Bob Laycoe by his side, Smith compiled a 126-94-4 win-loss-tie record overall and 17 winning seasons. He led UBC to a school-record eight Shrum Bowl victories over SFU, five Canada West Hardy Cup Trophy victories, and four CIAU Vanier Cup national championship appearances, winning UBC's first-ever in 1982 and another in 1986. Twice, Smith was named CIAU coach of the year in 1978 and 1987.


 
"I wouldn't have gone to UBC if it wasn't for Frank. He was always so prepared, so committed and so focused," says Chris Davies, former Thunderbird receiver. "He studied so much video before a game and so when we played another team, we knew what they were going to do. He worked us so hard and got us into good shape. If you are going to play for someone who has that kind of work ethic it rubs off on you, and those lessons helped me later in life."
 
During his years leading the Thunderbirds, Smith's teams produced 47 CFL players from his years leading the Thunderbirds, including Leo Groenwegen, Kevin Konar and Vince Danielsen.


 
"Most recognize Coach Frank Smith's success with wins and losses, but when you look at the careers and lives of those athletes who benefited from his mentorship you see another measure of his greatness," says Blake Nill, UBC Football Head Coach.

Smith's own son Casey took over at UBC in 1995 and he would lead the Thunderbirds to another Vanier Cup in his third season. It was the last game Casey Smith ever coached. He died from cancer in November of 1998.

Frank Smith closed out the 1990s by serving six seasons as an assistant coach with Saskatchewan and BC in the CFL, before retiring from football in 2000.

"No one has had a bigger impact on UBC football than Frank Smith. Under his leadership the Thunderbirds football program became one of the best in the nation, but his lasting legacy really lies with the players he impacted over the years," says Kavie Toor, Managing Director of Athletics and Recreation.



Smith was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame, the BC Sports Hall of Fame, and most recently, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. In 2024, UBC Athletics honoured Smith by officially named the football academic centre the Coach Frank Smith Academic Centre.



The academic centre, built in 2015, has served as an impactful addition to the development of the football program, as well as an important place for football alumni to gather together. In recent years, Frank Smith, alongside his wife Diane, frequently attended games, cheering on the Thunderbirds alongside other alumni from the academic centre.



"He was like a football coach you would see in the movies – tough guy, no nonsense, a disciplinarian with very high standards, but I saw a softer side of him come out after he retired," reflects Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian.



"I think he shed that responsibility and role of the tough coach and he was able to really appreciate his accomplishments. Every time I saw him, he was a really friendly guy who remembered you, loved seeing his former players and was just pleasant to be around. That's Frank Smith, the person, as I saw him."