By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          One of the legends in Dublin High’s hefty sports history returned to coach at his alma mater in 2019.

          And now Ben Smith is leaving.

          He stunned the area high school basketball world with a long social media post at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday with the announcement that he’s leaving the boys basketball program.

          He didn’t say what his next move is, just that he needed to move on.

Dublin picks former leader on the court to be one on the sideline

          “I also understand this decision will hurt a lot of feelings. It hurt mine as well but sometimes you have to break your heart to save your soul. … Dublin high (sic) School was a great start, but it can’t provide what I want as a basketball coach …

          “It’s about growing and I’m ready for a new challenge.”

          Smith followed his Dublin playing career at Jacksonville, and was eventually inducted into the Atlantic Sun Conference Hall of Fame and had his jersey retired at Jacksonville.

          After his college career ended, he began an international professional career that ended only a few months before taking the job at his high school alma mater. While living in Jacksonville, Smith returned to his hometown of Dublin every summer for camps of some sort.

          The Irish went 97-18 in his four seasons as head coach, twice breaking the team winning streak record. Dublin produced three region players of the year in that span, and reached one Final Four.

          Smith ended his post by noting the only reason he took the Dublin job – back in late April of 2019 - was because of then-principal Jaroy Stuckey, a teammate of his at Dublin in the mid-2000s when the Irish won the Class AA state title in 2006 and were regularly in the hunt.

          Stuckey, his pregnant wife Elysea and son A.J. were killed on March 14, 2021 when a tractor-trailer towing a tanker rear-ended another vehicle when traffic had slowed down on I-16. That car caught fire while being pushed into another tractor-trailer, which side-swiped the Stuckey vehicle, which then also caught fire.

          “To my guy Jaroy, I only came back because of you, my boy. If that’s anyone else on that call, I would respectfully decline. … I love the city life as an adult; I wasn’t feeling the move back to the country, but I did it because of you and who you are as a person.

          “I’m writing this in the present tense because you’re still alive my guy. … We had something we wanted to accomplish together. We did that. … We have more to do though. Let’s keep it going. The location changing, not the mission.”