Close to his community, Rochester’s own Smith takes over as boys basketball coach

‘I just wanted to give back to the community that I grew up in’

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Luke Smith is a product of Rochester.

He said that his parents will tell you that the first word out of his mouth was “ball.”

The community raised him. Then, earlier this year, they lifted him and his family at a terrifying time.

Starting this winter, he will represent the community after he was named the boys basketball coach at Rochester High School at a May 18 school board meeting.

He replaces Rob Malchow, the school’s all-time winningest coach who stepped down after a 17-6 season in 2024-25.

Smith spent eight years as an assistant coach on Malchow’s staff.

“When I came through as a basketball player through this community, a lot of people poured a lot of love and support into me,” Smith said. “And I’ve always tried to give back in the basketball community, and I care so much about the program, and I’ve been with coach Malchow for eight years, and I felt if I was going to do it, now would be the time. I couldn’t be more honored to follow in Malchow’s footsteps.”

A smooth, versatile point guard, Smith graduated from Rochester in 2006 and starred on two sectional championship teams. He scored 1,166 points during his high school career, putting him in the top three all-time in school history. He added another 1,174 during his collegiate career at Huntington University.

When Rochester won the sectional title in 2004 during his sophomore year, it broke a 26-year sectional drought at the time. They won another sectional two years later.

“I just wanted to give back to the community I grew up in,” Smith said. “I have a passion for the game, and I really enjoy being around these kids.”

Getting into coaching

Smith started his coaching career under Malchow in 2010-11, his first year after graduating from college. It also turned out to be the final year in Malchow’s first stint as coach. He would leave after the season in order to spend more time with his family.

“I wouldn’t say I really got a huge desire to be the head coach at that point – fresh out of college, world’s in front of me, trying to figure out my career and how everything was going to play out, but Malchow let me come into the gym and really just compete with the guys and build relationships with those guys,” Smith said. “And I really enjoyed that and then obviously with him retiring the first time, I stepped away with him. That’s when (Jim) Metcalfe came in, and Rex (Reinholt) followed Metcalfe, and I came back in a little bit with Rex, but I really didn’t have a role on the staff.”

After a six-year hiatus, Malchow returned as head coach in 2017. Before the school board officially approved him, Malchow asked Smith if he would like to return on a volunteer basis. Smith agreed, and his role on the staff would evolve over time.

“I would say the first four or five years of that, I was in the role of player relationships and player development, and I competed with the guys in the gym,” Smith said. “So I really enjoyed that.”

In 2022, assistant coach Tony Stesiak left the staff and took the girls coaching job at Winamac. Smith decided to approach Malchow.

“It wasn’t really until coach Stesiak left for Winamac, and I came up to Malchow and said, ‘Hey, I want a prominent role on the coaching staff, and I’d really like to take over some of the offensive stuff,’” Smith explained. “So I would say for the last three years, he’s given me much more of a voice in the gym. And he’s really given me a desire to have more impact and make some more decisions than I was making at that time.”

With Rochester running a “flow” offense that Smith installed, Rochester averaged 58.7 points per game two years ago and 58.3 points last year. Those were the two highest scoring Rochester teams since the 2009 state runner-up team.

Last year’s team went 17-6 but graduated seniors Drew Bowers, Tanner Reinartz, Owen Prater, Bryce Baugher and Xavier Vance. Its only losses from January came to eventual Class 2A state champion Manchester, Class 1A regional champion Triton and Class 3A regional champion Maconaquah.

“We obviously knew we had some great players that were going to leave this team and guys that wanted to compete at a high level that came in focused every day, worked really hard, and they had been around the program for a long time,” Smith said. “When you get kids that have been around the program and the same coach for four years, we didn’t have to start over day one at practice. It was more of a pick-up where we left off. So it didn’t feel like we had to reteach a lot of things that you’re teaching. … I felt like we were jump-started from the beginning.”

But the 2025-26 version of the Zebras will be different without the five seniors, and this summer has been active.

The team went to Huntington University for a shootout in which they played three games. It allowed Smith the chance to coach his first game on his college alma mater’s floor. Then came another shootout at Plymouth and three more games. Then they went back to Huntington for four more games.

After a week off to allow the football players on the team to go to camp at Manchester University, Smith and 14 kids traveled to the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne for a three-day, two-night camp where they played 10 more games. And the JV got in an 11th game for a total of 21 games.

Smith said the 21 games allowed both the players and Smith himself to gain experience.

Smith also said 22 kids showed up to his first open gym. They are Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.

Because he is a lay coach, Smith said he cannot attend the weightlifting sessions every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 a.m. So he instituted a “fundamental session” from 6 a.m.-6:30 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday before the weightlifting in which they work on ballhandling, form shooting and free throw shooting.

When he talks about the group of sophomores-to-be that went undefeated last year, he says they would stick around after practice for extra work. Smith said they “want to be great.”

Bringing ‘joy to the gym’

Smith speaks about developing an early passion for the game, and he said having a lot of great friends around him helped make basketball fun.

Asked about his college experience at Huntington, he played for two years under coach Steve Platt. Then after his sophomore year, Steve retired and Ty Platt, Steve’s son, took over.

“They let me play free,” Smith said. “I think that’s important. I didn’t like to go through playing scared. I never felt like I was going to get taken off the floor or anything. They let me play to the best of my ability. Mindset was important to them.”

He intends on bringing the same mindset and passion to the game as a head coach in order to transmit his passion to his players.

He has put together a coaching staff with JV coach Sean Kelly, varsity assistant Jake Howdeshell, volunteer assistants Joe McCarter and Kyle Reinartz and freshman coach Trenton Reinholt to help guide through a long season. Of that group, only Howdeshell is not a Rochester grad.

“I hope to provide them an experience to allow them to love the game,” Smith said. “Basketball can be a grind. It’s a long season, and I think  it’s important to bring joy to my gym so guys can love the game. It’s very difficult. You’ve got to play both ends of the floor. You’ve got to be in great shape. You’ve got to be physical. If you don’t bring some joy to the gym because it’s such a long season – I don’t know how many practices we’ll have, probably around 80 – that can be a little bit of a grind. You’ve got to keep things interesting and fun and loose for the kids who have that drive to love the game.

“So that will be a big focus of mine. As much as I want to work hard and grind every day, I think that’s really important for my kids to develop that joy for the game.”

Farming, family and basketball

Smith is a farmer when he is not coaching, and he said farming requires the same kind of work ethic.

“Just like any sport, if you want to be good at it, you have to put the hours in,” Smith said. “You have to continue to work. And when it’s time to go in the farming world, and when I say time to go, plant or harvest, you’re spending a lot of hours out and away from your family. If you want to be really good at something, it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication to be good at it.”

Smith said his wife, the former Cassie Screeton, helped prepare him for the coaching interview process, though he laughed when he noted that she was “none too excited” that the family would no longer be able to take a warm-weather vacation in the winter.

Cassie, like Luke, is a Rochester grad.

“Cassie kept pushing me to go for this job too,” Smith said. “She really wanted me to have it. I would say she’s as pumped as I am. … She has been very supportive through this whole process. As I was getting prepared for my interview, she interviews people for a living at Notre Dame, so she was always throwing me questions as we were laying in bed at night. She’s a sports nut. … If it’s March Madness and the TV’s not on around our house, she’s yelling at somebody to get that TV on to figure out who’s playing who. Her desire and her love for just the 

Rochester community is a big reason why she’s been so supportive for me.”

#FordStrong

Smith’s ties to the community were only strengthened after the frightening health scare that his 21-month-old son Ford went through in February.

While vacationing in Florida, Ford became very ill and had trouble breathing. He was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. Details of his condition were relayed from Orlando to Rochester through Facebook, and Ford’s health became a vigil on social media.

Ford eventually improved and was discharged March 1. He continues to see doctors at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, but Smith noted that Ford continues to improve.

Ford was described as a “miracle baby” on Facebook.

“The power of prayer and the power of our community helped us get through that,” Smith said. “You just wouldn't believe the amount of people who reached out and the amount of people that were praying for Ford. I think in one of those Facebook posts, the one question I’ll ask our good Lord when we get to heaven is how many people were really praying for that boy. Because some of the things that happened in the hospital, the doctors couldn’t believe, and it took the doctors a while to believe it, and that didn’t come without the hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people that were praying for Ford in our community.”

Smith and his family received care packages, gift cards, letters and Facebook posts.

“I think we cried over just the amount of love and support that we had just as much as we were crying over our own situation,” Smith said.  “That was pretty special. That was special to me, and that’s what I love about what our small community is. … They stand together and fight. … Our community really stood up for Cassie and I and my family, and we couldn’t have been more blessed.”

And when Smith was still in Florida and could not make it to his 6-year-old son Crew’s first Biddy Ball game – Luke and Cassie are also parents to a 4-year-old daughter Saylor – Smith said the varsity Zebras went to the game to cheer on Crew.

“It was really cool for my son because he loves all those guys,” Smith said.

And when Rochester hosted Peru on senior night Feb. 21, players and coaches on both sidelines wore “#FordStrong” shirts. Cory Good, the Rochester baseball coach, Smith’s former basketball teammate and owner of The Winning Edge, designed the shirts. Smith said he “broke down” when he saw how many people were wearing the shirts.

“Ford is doing great,” Smith said. “He’s still on a couple of heart medications. … He came home, and I think he was on six heart medications when we first got home. So they’ve peeled off four of them. He’s down to two. … Our cardiologist down there just couldn’t believe it either. If you saw him today… you’d think he’s just like any other 2-year-old running around.

“Life, you know.”