By PATTI WEAVER World Correspondent
Pat Smith resigns following his third DUI arrest in Payne County.
Oklahoma State volunteer assistant wrestling coach Pat Smith resigned from his position Monday following his arrest in rural Stillwater last Friday morning on a felony drunken driving charge.
It was his third DUI arrest in Payne County, according to jail records released by Undersheriff Noel Bagwell Monday.
The 35-year-old younger brother of OSU wrestling coach John Smith recently completed his 11th season on the Cowboys coaching staff. Smith joined his brother’s staff in 1995 after becoming the only OSU wrestler to win four individual NCAA championships. He was elected to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame last November and will be enshrined in June.
“There is great pain in having your brother leave your staff after 11 years, “John Smith said. “Pat has made a contribution to the legacy of this wrestling program. He regrets his personal decisions and is stepping down because he loves Oklahoma State University and the wrestling program.”
OSU athletic director Mike Holder said at Monday night’s Cowboy Caravan in Tulsa that he had no involvement in Pat Smith’s decision to resign.
“John Smith handled that. I have a lot of confidence in John.
I appreciate the way he coaches his team and runs his program, “Holder said. “Whatever decision he made on that, I was going to back him. It’s pretty tough. It’s a position on your staff and it’s a member of your family. Pretty tough weekend for the Smith family.”
Smith refused an intoxilyzer breath test for alcohol after being arrested by a Payne County sheriff’s deputy about 2 a.m. Friday, one-eighth of a mile north of the Tumbleweed concert arena, six miles northwest of Stillwater, Bagwell said.
Smith, whose license was automatically revoked for that refusal, is due to be arraigned Tuesday on the felony drunken driving charge, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $2,500 fine on conviction.
Smith was booked into the Payne County Jail on Friday about 2:30 a.m. and released at 11:30 a.m. on a personal recognizance bond set by Special District Judge Phillip Corley, Bagwell said.
According to an affidavit by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Hooten, filed Monday in court records, Smith said that he was an OSU wrestling coach and that “his job was history if I arrested him.”
Smith was spotted driving about 1:40 a.m. Friday north on Country Club Road in a 2000 white Toyota pickup that left the roadway three times, Hooten’s affidavit alleged.
Smith turned onto a residential street and did not stop, though the deputy had his lights activated, gave an audible warning and shone his patrol car spotlight on the truck’s cab, the affidavit alleged.
Smith pulled into a driveway, got out of the pickup and started to walk toward the front door of a house where he said he was staying, the affidavit said.
When the deputy asked him to stop and stand next to his pickup, Smith had a strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath, was very unsteady on his feet and had slurred speech, the affidavit alleged.
Asked how much he had to drink that night, Smith told the deputy he “had a couple over at a friend’s house, “and said he was coming from a friend’s party, not Tumbleweed, the affidavit said.
“Smith then stated he just left his friend at Tumbleweed because he wanted to go home, “the affidavit said.
Smith said he was not driving the truck, but he was the only occupant in the vehicle, the affidavit said.
Smith has a 2001 misdemeanor conviction in Payne County for aggravated drunken driving, a charge filed when blood alcohol is .15 or more. He pleaded no contest and received one year’s probation conditioned on his performing 50 hours of community service and receiving 28 days of inpatient treatment or extended outpatient treatment, court records show.
Smith also was arrested by a Payne County sheriff’s deputy for alleged drunken driving on April 3, 1999, and by a Stillwater police officer for alleged public indecency on June 3, 1996, jail booking records show.
No information was available in court records regarding the outcome of those cases other than that the revocation of his driver’s license was modified on May 14, 1999, by District Judge Donald Worthington to allow him to operate a vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock device.
Smith’s is the second DUI arrest in three months among OSU coaches. Basketball coach Eddie Sutton was charged with drunken driving after an accident on Feb. 10.
Among OSU records, Smith ranks fourth in winning percentage (.953), sixth in total victories (121) and fourth in career falls (46) with 18 in 1992 alone. He won gold medals at the U.S. Olympic Festival in the summers of 1991 and 1993. He was one of 15 wrestlers named to the 75th NCAA wrestling championship anniversary team.
As an assistant coach, Smith worked with middleweight wrestlers.
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