A former Washington Demon boys’ basketball coach is receiving one of the highest honors in the state for high school hoops. Bryce Smeins has been named to the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s 2024 Basketball Hall of Fame class.

Smeins tells KCII Sports that he was surprised when he got the call from the selection committee, but he’s receiving this honor because of the people he worked with during his time coaching.

“[It] stunned me [and] it shocked me,” Smeins says. “It means a lot. Over my 33 years, the number of great kids I’ve coached and the assistant coaches that I’ve coached with and the families, the relationships that you build during that time, it was awesome.”

After three previous stops coaching at Steamboat Rock, Lost Nation and Clear Creek-Amana, Smeins came to Washington in the mid 90s and would coach boys’ basketball there until 2015, a tenure that included leading the Demons to their last trip to state in 2006.

But, despite having 387 wins in his coaching career, Smeins says it’s the people that he’s been able to reconnect with that has been the greatest victory.

“This week’s been really, really fun,” he says. “Between Twitter and Facebook and all that, I’ve had a lot of ex-players call, and I’ve had more conversations with ex-coaches this week and ex-players. Just the relationships [that] you’ve built with those people back when you were coaching, they’re still strong today.”

Smeins and his wife Krista still live in Washington. He’ll be recognized with the other six members of the IHSAA Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 at tonight’s Class 3A state championship game in Des Moines.