The University of Idaho Argonaut

Quarterback coach Jonathan Smith watches practice with starting quarterback Nathan Enderle and backup quarterback Chris Joseph on Tuesday afternoon on the SprinTurf. Nick Groff/Argonaut

The writing on the wall in quarterback coach Jonathan Smith’s office illustrates the Vandal football team’s attitude.
“The race is not always to the swift — but to those who keep on running.” They are words every athlete sees upon entering Smith’s office, accompanied in large letters by the word “determination.”
Determination is why the Vandals continue to compete and why Smith continues to coach. He’s determined to help the quarterbacks improve day after day, win or lose.

“I want to see our quality of play go up from start to finish,” Smith said. “I want Nate (Enderle) to be playing his best ball at the end of the season.”
His style of coaching reflects his style of playing, which proved to be a success during his college career as a Beaver at Oregon State University.
Smith was 24-14 as a starter for the Beavers and set seven Oregon State records including the single game passing record with 469 yards.
“I try to relate my experience to my style of coaching,” Smith said.
His favorite part about coaching is setting up a plan and presenting it to the players, and he hopes someday he’ll be doing that for the whole team rather than just the quarterbacks.

“Right now I’m somewhat in control of the quarterback position but I’m still not making all the decisions on offense — I want to do that,” Smith said. “Then I want to make all the decisions in the program. I want the buck to stop with me.”
After spending seven years at OSU, two years as a graduate assistant, Smith said he will always consider himself a Beaver.
“But I think it’s once a Vandal, always a Vandal,” Smith said.
Smith likes the University of Idaho and said the students here are fun and unique.

“The sense of community is such here that it’s special,” Smith said. “I think this place would erupt if you could put a couple of good football seasons together.”
Moscow is where Smith and his wife Candice have decided to start a family. They have a 6-month-old baby boy named Robert Wesley who Smith said will play football only if he wants to.

“He’s going to do something, and he’s going to have fun with it,” Smith said. “Football’s great and if he wants to do that he’s going to do that but I’m not going to throw that on him.”
He said it would work best if his son would play something like baseball where the season is during his coaching off-season but he won’t be forcing that on him either.
With the new addition to his family Smith has to learn to balance his work with his family, a task which has proven to be more difficult for a college football coach.

Although he still struggles with it, he said the most important thing to remember is to leave work at the office.
“You try to take advantage of when you’re at home and not be thinking about ball all the time,” Smith said. He added when a person is away from home as much as he is it’s the small things that matter like a quick phone call home or leaving notes.
So far he’s making it work and still manages to spend about 65 hours a week in the office.
Smith shows up for work day after day because he’s determined to make the Vandals a better football team, even if he is a Beaver at heart.