![]() He spent time as an assistant coach at Rice and Arizona before returning to Kansas State in 2009. Michael, a native of New Orleans, left Manhattan in 2005 for the first time since setting foot on campus as an undergraduate. They’re just tremendous athletes and tremendous young women.” Molly was a tremendous athlete in her own right. “As young girls, they were always with me around the football complex. “They had an interest in it,” Michael said. In many ways, it was inevitable that Kenzie and Kylie would become collegiate athletes. You realize what success looks like, what hard work looks like and what leadership looks like.” “You need that type of figure in front of you. “I always had a role model whether it was my mom, my dad or my sister,” she said. That experience taught her important lessons that have served her well to this day. Kenzie embraced the environment in which she grew up. They played basketball, they played t-ball and they both were really good softball players.” I got into the coaching thing and both girls just grew up around football. “To have my first two kids be girls and me being a football player, you always think you’re going to have someone just like you and playing the same sport you did. It was a busy and competitive household for the young family. Michael was an assistant football coach at his alma mater. The couple had two daughters – Kylie was born in 1995 and Kenzie in 2000. They first became acquainted after playing rec league basketball. Her mother, Molly, came to Kansas State after playing basketball at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. Michael was a two-time All-American wide receiver for the Wildcats. Kenzie Smith grew up in Manhattan, Kan., where her parents first met. But whatever she has, we always get 100 percent.” She doesn’t play perfect volleyball all the time. “I think that’s why a lot of coaches recruit coaches’ kids. I told them ‘I know Kenzie and she’s going to play.’” She didn’t practice until the next time we played and the team was worried about it. “Obviously, we put their safety first, so once our trainer assessed the situation and figured out it wasn’t something that could really hurt her long term if she kept playing, we knew. “I knew it wouldn’t be an option for her to come out,” Hazelwood said. She knew her star setter wouldn’t let shoulder pain get in the way of finishing a critical match. Her coach, Jenny Hazelwood, respects Kenzie’s grit. Kenzie’s toughness has been a major asset to her Southern Miss team, which is coming off one of its most successful seasons in program history with 21 wins in 2022. I wanted her to be the toughest sucker on the court.” I instilled in her not to lay down on the floor. “One time, playing basketball, Kenzie came down bad and smacked her head on the court,” Michael said. Every member of her family plays or has played competitive sports at a high level. Her sister, Kylie, played softball at Arkansas. ![]() Her father is a career collegiate football coach who currently serves as the wide receivers coach at South Alabama. Kenzie grew up in a highly competitive environment. I took a second and was like, ooh, I know my dad is yelling at me through the TV. “I had a collision in our game at Western Carolina where I took a knee to my shoulder and it hurt really bad. “My dad’s motto is, if I am ever hurt or fall or do anything that doesn’t involve breaking my legs, then get up, I can walk,” Kenzie said. When Kenzie was injured in Southern Miss’ National Invitational Volleyball Championship quarterfinal match at Western Carolina this past December, she immediately thought back to those times when she was playing youth basketball and her father, Michael, was teaching her to be tough. Story Links NEW ORLEANS – Kenzie Smith could hear her dad’s voice in her head.
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