Charles Smith

Alexandria, Louisiana. Peabody Magnet High School. The Warhorses. Since 1975, the boys basketball program at this small Southern school has been blessed by the presence of a coach and a teacher named Charles Smith. Smith came to Peabody as an assistant to then head coach Ernest Bowman. The pair won a state championship in 1979. Then, in 1985, Smith replaced Bowman as head coach and began to build a basketball empire. Over the last four decades, the Warhorses have won nine state championships. The 2010 ESPN National Coach of the Year has won more than 1,200 games during his career, good enough for fourth on the all-time wins list for high school boys basketball. In 2004, Peabody went undefeated with a 41-0 record and state title. In 2010, the Warhorses repeated the effort, finishing with the same 41-0 mark and state crown. Smith’s teams play disciplined, defensive basketball and his system demands that each player 1-through-15 works to be the best piece of the puzzle.