NORTHWOOD – David Smith’s sweater pulsates red, perfectly matching the bleachers and the baselines in the gym at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy.

The visual symbiosis makes sense. After all, Smith’s held the title of headmaster there since 1980; the gym is even named after him. It’s no surprise his wardrobe matches the school colors.

And on Monday night, Smith further entrenched himself in Coe-Brown lore, picking up the 628th victory of his coaching career with a 70-40 victory over Plymouth, vaulting him atop the list for most high school boys’ basketball coaching wins in the state of New Hampshire, per Coe-Brown’s athletic department calculations. Dan Parr still holds the record for most overall wins with 704, but Smith eclipsed his boys’ mark.

The record is noteworthy, sure, but Smith’s never paid much attention to it. His players informed him after they beat Lebanon on Jan. 13 that he moved into third place for most overall wins by a coach in state history. Otherwise, he hasn’t given it much thought.

Everyone around him surely has.

“What you see is what you get,” said Sam Struthers, Coe-Brown’s athletic director, who’s worked with Smith for 28 years. “It’s the way he is as a headmaster, as a basketball coach. It’s kids first. It’s never about him.”

Nothing like a team sport

Smith vaguely remembers win No. 1. It was at Alton Central High School. That first season coaching was a grind.

“We were an OK team, but it was a struggle,” he said. “If you’re in a program for a while, then the expectations are there. Kids coming into the program, they know what’s going to happen. When you’re a new coach starting, it’s a brand-new world.”

Over the next 46 years of coaching – he took a 10-year break from the high school bench between 1980 and 1990 – those kids coming into his program figured out what to expect. And with that came lots of winning.

But the end of winning isn’t necessarily what drives Smith. It’s the means to getting there: Building a new roster every year, tapping into each individual’s strengths and everyone coalescing around a collective goal remain his favorite parts of the job.

He still sees the impacts of team-building when Coe-Brown hosts alumni games every year and sometimes 20 to 25 former players show up.

“Just great to see the alumni,” he said. “All part of the program, and the fondness for one another and the appreciation for one another, there’s nothing like a team sport – if you can do it right.”

Struthers credits Smith’s ability to evolve with the times for helping him achieve as much as he has.

Surely, coaching in 2023 is a different art than it was in the 1970s, but he’s zigged and zagged all while maintaining his understanding of why he does this job in the first place: the kids.

“It’s about the kids,” Struthers said. “Everything he does and everything we do is about the kids. … He’s a pretty special guy to a lot of us.”

He is Coe-Brown

At 77 years old, Smith’s not sure of how much longer he’ll coach. But one thing is certain: His legacy at Coe-Brown stands on quite sturdy ground.

“He is Coe-Brown,” said Struthers. “He’s our guy. Everyone loves him. They respect him.”

Smith speaks calmly but firmly. When you’ve won as many games as he has, not much else is necessary from a coach.

And as he thinks back on the long journey, that modesty becomes even more prevalent.

“I’ve just been lucky because I’ve lasted a long time,” he said. “I appreciate that. Kids were great. It’s about them. It’s not about me.

“I’ve been honored, privileged to be able to coach, and as my career winds down at some point, this group of kids I have, I’m blessed.”

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