Falcons’ Smith wins top coach award

Flowery Branch — Mike Smith has gone from being an obscure but respected assistant to the NFL’s Coach of the Year in less than 12 months.

Smith, who led the Falcons to an improbable turnaround from league doormat to the playoffs, edged out Miami coach Tony Sparano by one vote for the Associated Press 2008 NFL Coach of the Year award announced Sunday

“I’m honored individually, but more so for our coaching staff and our players,” Smith said. “It’s something that our guys have worked very hard to finish the season the way we did and very fortunate that we were able to play in the second season as well.”

Sparano led a similar football revival in Miami, guiding the Dolphins to the playoffs after they went 1-15 last season. But Smith received 23½ votes and Sparano 22½ from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL.

Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher received three votes and New England’s Bill Belichick received one vote.

The Falcons lost in the wild card round of the NFC playoffs 30-24 to Arizona on Saturday.

Smith had the Falcons in the hunt for the NFC South title until the final seconds of last game of the regular season.

Smith helped to lead the turnaround after collaborating with general manager Thomas Dimitroff to rebuild the roster.

Several former top players were released and key free agents, like running back Michael Turner, were added.

The Falcons then turned their efforts to the draft. Smith and his staff relied heavily on rookies.

Matt Ryan, the No. 3 player selected in the 2008 NFL draft, played well beyond his years. The Falcons also relied on tackle Sam Baker, middle linebacker Curtis Lofton, defensive back Chevis Jackson, wide receiver Harry Douglas and defensive end Kroy Biermann.

Smith credits his coaching staff with helping to manage all of the change and getting Ryan and the rest of the rookies ready to compete in the NFL.

“The thing that we tried to establish is that we were going to be very systematic in the way that we’ve done things,” Smith said. “We had a plan and we laid that plan out from the very beginning and how we were going to do business.”

The detailed oriented Smith planned for meetings, travel and how the team would communicate.

“I think the guys appreciated how we presented the plan and the framework for us to start the season,” Smith said.

When picking his assistants, Smith chose coaches with extensive NFL experience. The returning players, who had questioned some of the previous regime’s coaching tactics, could not second-guess the staff’s more than 100 years of NFL coaching experience.

“The ability to have a group of assistant coaches that we’ve had, to me it’s just as much of an award for them as it is for me,” Smith said. “I really believe that.”

Smith, a long-time college coach, started coaching in the NFL in 1999 as an assistant with Baltimore. He later joined the staff in Jacksonville. Smith brought with him several assistants from Jacksonville.

“I knew them and they know me and we knew how we operated, how we set practices schedules and how we do things,” Smith said. “That’s a big advantage as well.”

Dan Reeves is the only other Falcons coach to receive the award. He won it in 1998, the year the Falcons made their only trip to the Super Bowl.