High school basketball: Louisiana all-time wins leader Charles Smith inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

Charles Smith, the all-time winningest high school basketball coach in Louisiana history, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Sunday.

The 74-year old coaching legend was inducted alongside legends of the game like Seimone Augustus, Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Michael Cooper and Doug Collins among others.

Smith started his career as a math teacher and assistant coach under Ernest Bowman at Peabody in 1975 and he continues to teach trigonometry classes at the school to this day.

He took over the helm as the head coach at Peabody (Alexandria, La.) in 1985 and has remained at the school for the past 39 seasons, compiling a career record of 1,208-214 with two undefeated seasons. His 1,208 wins ranks him seventh all-time and third among active coaches behind Gary McKnight of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Richard Duease of Madison-Ridgeland Academy (Madison, Miss.).

Smith has guided the Golden Tide to 10 state titles overall, with nine coming as the head coach. After winning his lone state title as an assistant coach in 1979, Smith went on to lead his squad to titles in 1991, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2017, 2020 and 2024 as the head man.

He was named ESPN's National Coach of the Year in 2010 after a perfect 41-0 state championship season. He was also a head coach in the 2020 McDonald's All-American Game.

Last season, Peabody finished 28-5 and defeated Madison Prep Academy (Baton Rouge) 43-40 in overtime of the Division II Select state championship game.