SURREY, B.C. — Running back Joe Smith's contract extension is good news for both the B.C. Lions and a local hair salon.
The laid-back Louisiana native was not only the CFL's rushing leader last year with 1,510 yards but also led the league in hairstyles.
"This is just a press back," Smith said Friday when asked about latest coif following a news conference to announce his return to the Lions.
Smith dropped a few dollars last season at a salon near the club's suburban practice facility and played with his hair in spikes, cornrows and styled as a pompadour that gave him a Little Richard look.
"We're going to try some new styles in the near future so we can see what works out and I'll know what I want to wear during the season," Smith said before heading to the mall.
Before re-signing with the Lions, Smith had a tryout with the NFL's Houston Texans, a club he said is already deep in running backs and was not willing to offer Smith a significant signing bonus.
"If that had happened, I'd probably be a Texan but since that didn't happen we came back and talked with the team here," he said. "They were willing to put money up front and everybody's happy.
Smith reportedly signed a three-year deal with the Lions, although the club wouldn't divulge specific details. All Lions coach and GM Wally Buono would say is that Smith, 28, will be with the team "for many years to come."
Smith said he also likes the anonymity of playing in the CFL.
"The lifestyle here, I love it," said Smith, who scored a club-record 18 rushing TDs last season. "I can pretty much go around town and nobody goes, 'Hey, that's Joe Smith.' "
"I can pretty much go around and collect pop cans and nobody cares."
Buono said Smith, originally signed out of Louisiana Tech in 2003 as an undrafted free agent by the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, is a good fit for the Lions.
"The personalities are what makes your team exciting and makes it fun," Buono said. "The thing that you want to be consistent is the work ethic, the pride, the toughness and the commitment to winning.
"Whether he likes to eat Vietnamese food or whether he likes this kind of music or that or whether he likes to leave a game a minute or two early . . . that's Joe and that's what you love about him."
Smith wasn't around for the final whistle of a B.C. home victory last season when he had to dash away — with the club's permission — to catch a red-eye flight home.
Buono said Smith began to give the Lions an identity in during their 2006 Grey Cup-championship season when he started for the first time in the club's sixth game. He ended up rushing for 138 yards and scoring three touchdowns in Calgary.
"He was more physical, the offensive line became more physical, the attitude of the whole club seemed to change and a guy like Joe can bring that," Buono said.
The six-foot-two, 224-pound Smith spent a week with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being released by Jacksonville. He then signed with the Tennessee Titans, who assigned him to NFL Europe's Rhein Fire.
B.C. signed Smith as a free agent in May 2006.
Smith, who also had five 100-yard games, 23 catches for 180 yards and a 19th TD last season, said his NFL ambitions are likely behind him.
"No," he said when asked if he'd like another shot. "I'm just easy going.
"I just like things to be easy. If there was a lot of cash up front, maybe."
And he's also not looking back at a disappointing 26-17 West Final loss to the eventual Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders that tarnished B.C.'s stellar 14-3-1 regular-season campaign.
"I'm thinking this year, especially when it gets close to camp, we've got to come back in shape and we've got to come back hungry, ready to do it and win the ring," he said. "Last year, was last year and you can't do anything about it."
