Mike Smith sits at his desk and stares intently at his computer screen in his office one afternoon in early February. A 2018 season with lofty expectations attached to it is set to begin in Gulf Shores, Alabama in a couple days and Smith is meticulously charting film before practice.
On the wall behind him hang three paintings, one of his son, Tyler, jumping on his back after Ole Miss won a regional it hosted last May, one of his team hoisting its 2017 SEC Tournament Championship Trophy and one of the SEC Championship ring itself.