The vindication of ‘Varsity Ron'
Now no one's laughing at father of Tulsa quarterback
Now no one's laughing at father of Tulsa quarterback

Ron Smith always wanted to coach varsity football.

So much so, he earned a nickname.

"Anytime he introduced himself, he said, ‘I am Ron Smith, I coach varsity at Midwest City,' just to make sure you knew he was a varsity coach,” said Henry Manning, longtime football coach at rival Del City High School. "People got to calling him ‘Varsity Ron' because he talked about it so much, as a putdown, kind of a joke.”

Today, no one's laughing.

Smith is the father and personal quarterback coach of Tulsa gunslinger Paul Smith, the Golden Hurricane's best chance of upsetting fourth-ranked Oklahoma on Friday.

Ron Smith, now a second-year head coach at Bartlesville, has been a winner at every school he's been and a mentor on some level over the years at passing camps for many of the state's best prep quarterbacks.

Smith is still known as Varsity Ron. But it's a moniker he's now embraced.

"I use the word ‘varsity' all the time,” Smith said. "To me, ‘varsity' means good, it means classy.”

In the early 1980s, though, Smith wasn't varsity.

He was jayvee.

But Smith had a listener in a seventh-grade boy, who would sit on the curb waiting for Smith to come home.

Waiting with a football.

Waiting to play catch.

"He lived across the street from my grandmother,” Mike Gundy said. "He is a very knowledgeable guy and a very good coach.

"I was over there all the time.”

Smith eventually became Midwest City's varsity quarterbacks coach. Later, its offensive coordinator.

Some days, Paul Smith would come to practice with dad.

During the summers, he would attend the passing camps Smith worked, learning at an early age the techniques of the three-step drop and how to read the defensive end on the option.

"My dad always found time to play catch with me, always made time with me,” Paul said. "At a young age, he was teaching me mechanics.

"By the time I got to high school, I was already a step ahead because I had Varsity Ron as my dad.”

Midwest City won state championships with all-state quarterbacks and brothers Mike and Cale Gundy leading the Bombers' high-powered passing offense in the 1980s.

"Ron would spend a lot of time at our house after practices, going over coverages, watching film,” said Cale Gundy, now running backs coach at OU. "He was always a great supporter and a great friend to our family.”

But despite 17 years as a Bomber assistant, Smith was passed over for the Midwest City head-coaching job.

Twice.

"The people that really knew the program, they realize how the Midwest City offense changed for the worse when he left,” Manning said. "He had a great offensive mind, and I respected Ron a lot as a football coach.

"Ron was deserving of the head job.”

So in 1997, Smith left for Deer Creek, to prove he was varsity.

It didn't take long.

In four years, Deer Creek won the Class 3A state championship, with his sophomore son, Paul, at quarterback, and his older son James — then quarterback at the University of Central Oklahoma and now offensive coordinator with his dad at Bartlesville — calling plays on game nights from the press box.

"I was so proud for my dad,” Paul said. "I think it's wrong for people to call him Varsity Ron because he has passion, because he has work ethic, and for them to pass him up, it had to hurt him a little bit.

"That was fun for my brother and me, to be able to help him prove them wrong.”

After being named The Oklahoman's Coach of the Year in 2000, Smith accepted the head-coaching position at Class 6A Owasso, in part so Paul, boasting a 90-mph fastball, could develop his baseball skills at one of the top programs in the country.

"I thought Paul was going to play college baseball,” Ron Smith said. "Paul was a better baseball player, but he wanted to play football.”

With Smith's offense, Paul rewrote the state record books for passing.

But like his dad, Paul had to prove himself, in part because of his skinny 6-foot-2, 168-pound frame.

Not even Oklahoma State, with Mike Gundy as head coach, offered Paul a scholarship.

"Mike looked me in the face and told me Paul couldn't take the pounding in the Big 12, and I told him I agreed,” Ron Smith said. "And OU was sitting there with five blue-chip quarterbacks.

"Paul's very fortunate that even Tulsa gave him a chance.”

But like his dad, Paul has made the most of the opportunities given him.

He put on 30 pounds of muscle, which helped him withstand the beating OU gave him two seasons ago, knocking him to the turf 17 times.

Paul is second on Tulsa's all-time list in career yards (6,632) and touchdown passes (44).

In last week's 55-47 benchmark victory over Brigham Young, Smith passed for a career-best 454 yards and five touchdowns.

"He's been lit up like you can't believe,” Ron Smith said. "He has, just this heart.”

"Paul is varsity.”

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