OXFORD, Ohio — When Frankie Smith left his head coaching job at Tug Valley in 1999, he had dreams of being a head coach on the college level.

He took his first step by being an assistant coach under Charlie Coles at Miami (Ohio) University. After eight years at Miami, Smith realized his dream when he took over the reigns of the Saginaw State University men's basketball program.

Now in his third season as coach of the Cardinals, Smith said things are going well for him and his family and the SVSU basketball program.

"Things are getting better," Smith said in a phone interview from Miami University in Oxford. Smith was back in Ohio for a game against Cincinnati tonight and another game on Sunday against his former team, the Miami Redhawks.

"When I took the job, I investigated it and looked at everything. Saginaw Valley State University had not had a winning season since 1997. And here's a more sobering fact, in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC), there are 12 teams. The GLIAC takes the top eight teams to the tournament. Teams 9-12 don't get to play in the tournament. Saginaw Valley State has not been in the GLIAC tournament since 1999. So, for 10 years, they finished No. 9, 10, 11 or 12. So, going into this, I knew I had some work to do.

"I didn't expect in two years to have a winning season or even three or four. When I got hired my first year, I was hired Sept. 10, which was a month into school."

Smith said he's been at SVSU long enough to recruit his own team. Last year he brought in six freshmen and this year he brought in four.

"We obviously have a young team," Smith said. "I believe, barring any crazy injuries, we have a chance to have a winning season and to make the GLIAC tournament this year. I think if we can do those two things, that's something we can proudly hold our heads high about."

Smith is the only coach to lead the Tug Valley Panthers to the state title. The Panthers made it to state for the first time in school history in 1997 under Smith and he then led them to the title in 1999, his last season there.

Smith then coached under Coles for eight years at Miami (Ohio) in the Mid-American Conference. While doing the interview, Coles stopped by to drop off his son, Chris Coles, who is an assistant under Smith at SVSU and stayed at his dad's home last night.

Smith said playing Cincinnati and Miami gives the Cardinals some good exposure.

"Cincinnati is unbelievable. They are loaded this year. I don't know what they were picked in the Big East, but whatever it was, trust me, they were picked too low," Smith said. "They're really, really, really good. Then, we play Miami on Sunday. The good and the bad of this is that these games don't count on your record and they're good exposure for my program. These games are also good for my guys to get out and play in this atmosphere. They're saying there will be between 8,000-12,000 there tonight. It isn't like having 75 people showing up for an exhibition game."

Smith and the Cardinals play in Cincinnati tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Shoemaker Arena and then will play Miami in Oxford at Millett Hall at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

"We aren't going in scared," Smith said. "The main thing with this trip is that on Monday, we're going to know what we need to do to prepare ourselves for this league. We're going to break down the film and evaluate what we have done against these two great opponents. We won't play anybody as good as Cincinnati and Miami all year. We'll be able to see what we have to improve upon."

Smith's wife, Jill, has been living in Oxford for the past two years until their daughter, Madison, graduated from high school. Now that Madison is in school where her dad coaches, Jill has joined them in Michigan.

"They stayed behind to let Madison graduate from high school (in Oxford) and we still have the house here," Coach Smith said. "My daughter is 18 and she has enrolled at Saginaw Valley State University and Jill has been hired at the college so she will follow the bus back up with her car loaded on Sunday."

Smith said he has great memories of his time here in West Virginia. He was an assistant coach at Tug Valley for five years and head coach for six. Most of his family still lives here and Coach Smith said he loves coming home for visits.

"I miss everybody back home and I have great memories there," Smith said. "And I'll be back to visit at Christmas."