Steven Smith is one of the newest members of the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff and he joins Jack Bicknell, Jr. in coaching the Chiefs offensive line, including new faces like Eric Winston and Jeff Allen among others. Josh Looney over at the Chiefs official web site sat down with Smith recently to discuss a few topics now that he's gotten his feet wet on the job. Here's the transcript and an inside look at the Chiefs assistant offensive line coach.
When discussing his long journey to the NFL coaching ranks:
"I did college. I coached in NFL Europe for two years as a running backs coach in '05 and then an o-line coach in '06. I did seven internships -- Miami, Cleveland, four in Dallas with [Bill] Parcells and then I was at New Orleans with [Jim] Haslett. So it's been a road so I'm happy to be here. It's paid off for what I wanted to get done."
When asked about breaking into the business and what is most important there:
"I would definitely say to do the internships because you get to meet the people who are in there already. You get to build the relationships. That's what I did. I started off in '02 in New Orleans and built relationships with Jack Henry and Jim Haslett and a lot of those guys. That's the thing. You go out and show those guys that you can work and that you're going to work hard and you'll do the job to the best of your ability. As that goes on and then guys start taking jobs and trying to talk to different people to help you make moves yourself. That's the first thing I would say."
When asked about working with new Chiefs offensive line coach Jack Bicknell, Jr.:
"It's great. I love working for him. I love working with him and anything he has to do, I'm there to do it for him to make sure everything goes the best it can. I'm just enjoying the ride and hopefully it takes us somewhere great. He's been there. He knows how, so I'm soaking up a lot of knowledge from him from what he was able to experience last year being an assistant line coach and then going to the Super Bowl and what he brings to the table now. I'm just a kid in a candy store now. [Laughs]"
When asked about what he's teaching to the line at this point, power or zone blocking:
"The biggest thing for me is whatever Jack wants. Whatever Jack wants to teach, I'm going to piggyback off of him of what he wants to teach and how he wants to teach it, whether it's the zone or whether it's the power. That's my job is to piggyback off of him and make sure I'm doing exactly what he wants and that's going to be the most important thing."