Falcons coach uses common-man touch to get results

FLOWERY BRANCH -- When one has the most common of names, it's easy to blend into the crowd. And let's face it, there weren't a whole lot of people even within the NFL who knew much about Mike Smith before he landed the first head coaching job of his life.

That includes some of the players he's now coaching, who went scurrying for their computers when they heard he'd been hired by the Atlanta Falcons.

``To be honest, I really hadn't heard of him,'' said longtime Falcons center Todd McClure. ``But it seems to have worked out, doesn't it?''

Indeed, it does.

Atlanta surely could've hired a higher-profile name back in 2008 we're looking at you, Rex Ryan but no one is quibbling now about the guy whose head full of white hair might lead you to think he's older than his 51 years.

From the day he arrived, inheriting a beaten-down franchise stripped of its best player, Smith has seemingly pushed every right button. Yep, he's the guy in charge. There's no doubt about that. But he's also maintained a humbleness and willingness to listen that endears him to his players.

``When you've got that,'' linebacker Mike Peterson said, ``that's a guy you can play for.''

Smith said communication is the key to any good business, and there's no arguing with the results. Inheriting the mess left by Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino, he led the Falcons to a totally unexpected playoff berth in '08. Injuries derailed a return to the postseason last year, but Atlanta still managed a 9-7 record amazingly, the first back-to-back winning marks in franchise history. This season, the Falcons are 5-2 and leading the NFC South during their bye week.

``I don't believe in kings, queens and dictators,'' Smith said. ``You need to have input from everybody because they may have a completely different perspective on it. That doesn't mean you're going to use what they suggest. But it definitely makes you a critical thinker.''

Smith might come across as someone who came out of nowhere, but he's actually got a little bit of everywhere in him.

As a high school senior, he broke his right arm playing linebacker and volunteered to serve as an assistant coach the rest of the season. Just like that, a career was born. But it would be a long and winding journey to Atlanta, covering more than a quarter century of working for others.

After three years at San Diego State, there was a brief stop at Morehead State before he moved on to Tennessee Tech for a dozen years. While not exactly the glamour spots of college coaching, they did provide a slice of life that clearly helped mold his everyman approach.

``I can remember painting locker rooms, ripping up carpet so we could get new carpet and laying the new carpet. Sandblasting weights. Working on the field, mowing the field. At one stop, we had a rotation where all the assistants had to mow the grass. I had to do laundry,'' Smith recalled. ``You really learn about teamwork in those situations.''

He finally made it to the NFL in 1999, joining Brian Billick's staff at Baltimore for a four-year stint that included a Super Bowl title, and working with one of the league's most fearsome defenses. Smith moved on to Jacksonville in 2003, taking over as defensive coordinator for Jack Del Rio.

Even though his teams had plenty of success, Smith still faced questions. Did he get the job in Baltimore because he was Billick's brother-in-law? Did he really call the defensive shots in Jacksonville or was he just a front man for the actual coordinator, Del Rio?

Peterson, who played for Smith in Jacksonville and then followed him to Atlanta, said there's no doubt Smith was running the Jaguars' defense.

``I used to tease him all the time, 'Coach, you're going to be a head coach one day,''' Peterson remembered. ``He would just say, 'Oh, I don't want to hear all that.' But you could just tell how the guys on the defensive side of the ball responded to him. The success we had on that side of the ball was because we loved playing for our defensive coordinator.''

Smith had a couple of things going for him after he got to Atlanta.

For starters, the Falcons had the No. 3 pick in the draft after going 4-12 in 2007, and they used it wisely on Matt Ryan. Just like that, the team had another quarterback to build around, easing the sting of losing Vick over his involvement in a dogfighting ring.

``The first thing you like to do as a coach is find that franchise quarterback,'' said Del Rio, who has struggled to locate that sort of player in Jacksonville. ``He hit on one. The guy (Ryan) is a real stud. I know that's a great piece to have in place.''

Smith had another big advantage: He wasn't Petrino.

The previous coach had alienated just about everyone in the locker room with his college-style, my-way-or-the-highway philosophy. He couldn't care less what his players thought and didn't even bother trying to establish a rapport with them.

Petrino skipped out with three games left in his only season to return to the college ranks, leaving behind a form letter for the players on his way out the door.

``I had told my wife if Petrino is coming back, I'm either retiring or going somewhere else,'' McClure said. ``I was miserable.''

After the Vick-Petrino debacle, the Falcons cleaned house. General manager Rich McKay was kicked upstairs to team president and Thomas Dimitroff took over as a GM. His first big decision was hiring a coach.

Like so many others, Dimitroff didn't know much about Smith personally. But something clicked when the two men met for an interview. The GM knew this was someone he could work with to build a football team. He also sensed this was someone who'd have a deft touch around the locker room.

``Mike has this very unique combination of sort of street-slash-football smarts,'' Dimitroff said. ``There's an element of levity about him that relates very well to all the players, from the undrafted free agent from an Ivy League school to the top-notch, Division I-A All-American.''

The players sure know he's got their back. Last year against Washington, Smith jumped into the middle of a sideline scuffle after a late hit on Ryan, going nose-to-nose with former Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who charged the Atlanta coach with threatening to beat him up.

Smith said he was merely trying to break things up. Whatever the case, he earned plenty of props from his players.

``He's the guy everybody loves,'' star receiver Roddy White. ``People can't wait to get here in the morning.''

Smith doesn't mind the praise, as long as everyone realizes it's not a one-man show.

``We're all in this together,'' he said. ``To me, there's no better sense to feel than ... the end of a ballgame and you've been successful. You realize it wasn't just one person, one play. It was an effort by every person in that locker room, whether they're a coach, whether they're a star player or a backup player, whether they're the trainer or the equipment guy.''