Streetsboro Rockets’ assistant football Coach Pete Smith may not have played football during his high school days but was always fascinated by the X’s and O’s of the game. In addition to becoming an integral part of Streetsboro’s coaching staff, he has carried his passion for football over to the writing about the sport for the widely-acclaimed The Orange & Brown Report, a digital publication that covers all Cleveland Browns news.
“Since joining The OBR, they have a much bigger footprint and video and it is a great way to talk about the game and enjoy the game in a way that is easy for the fans to interact with,” Smith told The Weekly Villager on July 18. “I think it certainly has huge value in that respect.”
In addition to being a staff writer for the The OBR, Smith also hosts a podcast with co-host Bri Rust called Browns Bytes and frequently streams live chats on social media with his co-workers and other notable podcasters.
“I try to feel as fortunate as possible so I don’t want to miss opportunities to do those things because I don’t want it to feel like it’s a drag or that it is work or everything else,” he noted. “It is something I enjoy doing because it is technically work and it is a career but I hope it comes out in a way that it feels like I am happy to be there.”
Despite being a late bloomer as a journalist, Smith was always a capable scribe, having earned a history degree from the University of Akron. After he graduated, he went to Colorado and worked on a construction project. Although he stayed busy, Smith acknowledged that he was still very unsure of his future.
“I was sort of one of those people who could not figure out what I wanted to do with my life and I went to college, went on one track and ultimately decided I just want a piece of paper that said I went so I could get a real job,” he noted.
When he returned to Ohio, he went back to the University of Akron for grad school and was encouraged by a friend to apply to become an assistant coach. Although he had no coaching experience, Smith knew plenty about the game by being a fan and he was hired to become a wide receivers coach at Firestone High School.
He continued growing his coaching career across several different programs in Summit County before he arrived in Portage County to become Crestwood’s quarterbacks coach during Pete Thompson’s final year with the program in 2016. When he assumed the Streetsboro head coaching job, Thompson brought Smith along as one of his assistants and is entering his eighth year as an assistant coach with the Rockets.
He credited Thompson for really helping him grow as a coach.
“He is a coach that will just throw you into the deep end of the pool but at the same time, if you are intellectually curious and if you want to learn more about the game, he is more than happy to teach you as much as he can,” Smith said.
While he grew his coaching resume, Smith got involved with writing by doing work for a website while working as a temp at different places to support himself. He eventually became a contributing writer for Fansided and wrote pieces on the NFL draft and the Cleveland Browns. He soon found a full-time opportunity with another website called Maven, but it was soon acquired by Sports Illustrated and he became the Browns beat writer, writing daily articles on all-Browns related topics.
He worked there for five years before he parted ways with them last summer and soon landed a position with The OBR. He serves as a staff writer but is responsible for all editorial content including reviewing the work of contributing writers.
“There has been a lot of change at The OBR and I feel really good about where it is headed and I am very grateful for the opportunity I have now,” Smith added. “It is different and a lot of it ends up being the same as to what I was doing but it was just a little more specialized.”
Since joining The OBR, Smith’s platform has grown tremendously and he is frequently invited as a guest to several football podcasts by independent football analysts. While he is living every sports fan’s dream of getting to cover an NFL team full-time, he has not taken for granted the opportunity he has had in his second career.
“I don’t lose that perspective as best as I can so I try to feel as fortunate as possible so I don’t want to miss opportunities to do those things,” he said.
