North Cobb Football Coach Has Unique Bond with Falcons Mike Smith

On Friday, high school football coaches from all over the state of Georgia made the trek to Flowery Branch for Mike Smith's fourth annual GHSA Coaching Clinic. For most coaches in the peach state, the coaching clinic provides them with a rare chance to learn from some of the best football minds in Georgia, including: Smith, Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and Falcons quarterbacks coach Bob Bratkowski.

However, there were a couple coaches there who weren't just there to learn, they were there to catch up with an old friend. That's where North Cobb head football coach Shane Queen comes in.

Queen, a South Cobb graduate, played his college football at Tennessee Tech. Then man that recruited Queen to Tennessee Tech? Lets let Queen answer that question, "I was recruited [to Tech] by coach Smith," Queen says.

Queen likes that fact that Smith hasn't forgotten his roots.

Smith started as a small college football recruiter – he recruited the Atlanta area for over a decade – before his career finally led him to becoming the Falcons coach in 2008. Even though Smith has one of the 32 best coaching jobs in the country, Queen says the Falcons head coach is still humble.

"This [clinic] speaks volumes about Coach Smith, it's not something he has to do," Queen says. "He's given back and you can see why he's in the position he's in now, that's one of the reasons why he's successful.

'He's developed a lot of relationships over the year, you see a lot of his former players and coaches that he recruited in the [Atlanta] area back in the late 80's and early 90's and a lot of these guys he's maintained great relationships with and that's why they're here."

For Smith's part, he says hosting the clinic is something he's always wanted to do, "It's something as a coach I felt that I always wanted to give back to your fraternity brothers," the third year Falcons coach says. "Whether your coaching at the high school level, college level, or the NFL, you're in this very close-knit fraternity. It's an opportunity to get a bunch of football coaches together and talk ball."

As for Queen, it sounds like he hopes Smith will be the Falcons coach forever, "[We coaches] root for him and we want him to be successful," Queen says. "I'm an Atlanta boy and to see [Coach Smith] be successful here, it's nice to see, it's a blessing and he's done a great job."