Former PCC Women's Basketball Coach Greg Smith Passes At 75

Greg Smith, a head coach for 14 seasons here and an assistant coach on the Pasadena City College women's basketball state championship team in 2009, died on Monday at the age of 75. Smith, who was a survivor of brain cancer, recently suffered a series of small strokes which caused a rapid decline in his health.

Smith's run as a Lancers basketball coach, included first co-head coaching with current coach Joe Peron in directing the program to their first South Coast Conference championship in 1998. He later became a defensive/offensive strategist as an assistant for Peron during a glorious run by PCC in which it made six consecutive State Final Eight appearances between 2003-2009.

With Smith assisting Peron, the Lancers twice were state runner-up in 2004 and 2005 before capturing the college's first-ever state title in women's sports in '09, defeating San Joaquin Delta, 74-64, in the CCCAA title game at Fresno's Selland Arena.

He stepped away from coaching until returning to PCC as an assistant during the 2015-16 season. 

Smith played college basketball and earned a bachelor's degree at the University of La Verne after shining as a 2-time, All-CIF star at Hemet High. He earned a master's degree at Eastern Washington University, and was part of its 1976-77 men's basketball team as a graduate assistant coach. Smith was excited in 2016 when he was invited back to Eastern Washington for the induction of the '76-77 team into the EWU Hall of Fame.

He then became head coach for four seasons at Sonoma State University, a NCAA Division III institution, making history in directing that college's first women's basketball team in 1980. In 1982-83, his Sonoma squad was ranked in the top 10 in the nation while primarily playing against D-2 opponents. 

In 1984, Smith joined PCC as a full-time instructor and head women's basketball coach. From '84 through the 1995-96 season, Smith directed the women's basketball program for 12 seasons, including state playoff appearances in 1987 and 1990. However, Smith's best team finished 18-6 and tied for second place in the Metropolitan Conference in 1985-86, but did not get seeded for the postseason.

Smith coached PCC Hall of Fame guard Chris Zboril in 1992-94 as well as one of the program's great offensive players in 1993 South Coast Conference Player of the Year Biljana Bosanac, who still holds the school record for rebounds (445) and average (17.1) in a season.

A resident of Sierra Madre, Smith later became an avid cyclist and helped in bringing PCC its first aerobic spinning program in the early 2000s. 

He is survived by his daughter Christine and son Nate.