.png)
by Clayton Hall
Friday, May 1st 2020
SPRINGFIELD, MA - SEPTEMBER 07: Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2018 enshrinee Katie Smith speaks
during the 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Symphony Hall
on September 7, 2018 in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie
Meyer/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) — Buckeye
basketball legend Katie Smith is like many these days, biding her time until
she returns to coaching in the WNBA.
We caught up with Smith in Columbus and
discussed a number of topics surrounding her career.
She has done it all so why not take a
run at the coaching job at her beloved alma mater. "Some day maybe, Kevin
McGuff is doing such a good job. I love my university," Smith told ABC-6.
"I would love to get back there in any capacity."
She was hired in January as an assistant
coach by the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx where she began her pro career.
Basketball
has been Smith's life she her fabled high school days as the pride of Logan
High School in Southeast Ohio.
She
was so good at Ohio State she set Big 10 scoring records for men's and women's
basketball. She was part of an Ohio State team that reached the National
Championship as a freshman.
On to the WNBA. Smith played in a total
of 482 regular season games with five different teams (Minnesota, Detroit,
Washington, Seattle, New York) and averaged 13.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.6
assists per game. She
helped guide the Lynx to their first-ever playoff appearance in 2003,
averaging 18.2 points (on a career-high 45.7% from the field, including 39.0%
from long distance), a career-high 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while being named to the
All-WNBA First Team for the second time in her career (also 2001).
Smith
was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Springfield,
Mass.) in September 2018 and was also inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall
of Fame (Knoxville, Tenn.) in June 2018.
A
two-time WNBA champion in 2006 and 2008 with Detroit, where she played under
then-Shock-assistant Reeve, Smith earned Finals MVP honors in 2008. She was a
seven-time All-Star (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009) and was the
first player in WNBA history to win All-Star games with both conferences.
Smith
was a decorated member of the United States Women’s National Team, earning gold
at three straight Olympics (2000, 2004, 2008) and gold at the 1998 and 2002
FIBA World Championships for Women.
Smith joins the Lynx staff after serving
as the head coach of the New York Liberty for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Before
taking over head coaching duties, she spent three years as a member of Bill
Laimbeer’s staff with the Liberty, being elevated to Associate Head Coach prior
to the 2016 season.
With the Lynx, Smith will be the lead
assistant on Reeve’s staff, assisting in the team’s scouting efforts, talent
evaluation, in-game analysis and player development.
