Brad Smith was one of the most successful coaches in NCAA DII football during his 18 years as head man at Chadron State and now he’s the most successful coach – at least for this year – in the Norway American Football Federation

Smith, who retired last summer after more than 25 years as athletic director at CSC, led the Kristiansand Gladiators earlier this month to their first-ever title….taking a 24-21 come-from-behind victory over the Eidsvoll 1814’s.

This was the first season Smith has coached in Norway and he led the Gladiators to 7-2 record…finishing the season with a 5-game winning streak.

Although Kristiansand had never won the title, they’d finished second the past two years….including a 28-7 a year ago to Eidsvoll. Thie time, the Gladiators got the ball Eidsvoll 21-12 with about 7-minutes to play and drove for a touchdown. They missed the extra point and still trailed 21-18 with 4:30 remaining.

The defense held and forced a punt, giving Kristiansand the ball at its own 20 with just 2:20 remaining. The Gladiators drove the length of the field and had 1-and-goal, but found themselves looking at 4th-and-goal when they scored from the 20 with just 8-seconds to play.

Smith said in an e-mail that “tears flowed and everybody was kind of in shock,” after the score and after the game.

Winning close games is nothing new for Smith, whose CSC teams went 133-56-1 in his 18 seasons. He was selected as the all-time coach in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference when the league celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009.