Charmin Smith (born May 2, 1975) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player who is the head coach of the California Golden Bears women's team.

Early life and collegiate career

Charmin Smith was born in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

on May 2, 1975. Her brother, Charles, was her role model for basketball when she was growing up. Upon graduating from

Ladue Horton Watkins High School Ladue Horton Watkins High School is a public high school in Ladue, Missouri, United States, that is administered by the Ladue School District. Its namesake, Horton Watkins, was vice president of the International Shoe Company and died in 1949. The ...

in St. Louis in 1993, Smith attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where she played four years for the

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

. A four-year letter winner, Smith helped Stanford win three consecutive

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

championships and make three consecutive Final Four appearances in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. Smith averaged 4.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists during her senior year. Smith earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford.

Professional career

After her years at Stanford, Smith played one year with the Portland Power of the ABL, the last year before the league folded. She would be signed by the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded pr ...

for the 1999 WNBA season. In 2000 the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

picked her up in the expansion draft, and she would play for the Storm for the 2000 and 2001 seasons. She would play one more season in the WNBA for the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

in 2003. Smith went overseas in 2003 to play for the Swedish team

Solna Vikings Solna Vikings was a Swedish professional basketball club with a men's team and a women's team. Both played in their respective top leagues: the women in the Damligan, and the men in the Swedish Basketball League. History The Solna Vikings was f ...

before retiring from the sport as a player. During her off-seasons with the WNBA, Smith would work as a production assistant and editor with NBA Entertainment, as well as with the Seattle Storm CR office.

Coaching career

Boston College

Smith began her coaching career as an assistant under Cathy Inglese at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

in the 2003−04 season. The Eagles won their first Big East tournament championship, and were eliminated in the regional semifinals of the 2004 NCAA tournament.

Stanford

Smith was subsequently hired by

Tara VanDerveer Tara Ann VanDerveer (born June 26, 1953) is an American basketball coach who has been the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University since 1985. Designated the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball, VanDerveer led the Stanfor ...

, under whom she played at Stanford, as an assistant for the

. In Smith's three years on VanDerveer's staff, the Cardinal went 87−16 overall, attaining a record of 49−5 in Pac-10 play, while winning two conference tournaments and making the Elite 8 twice.

California

Smith joined Joanne Boyle's coaching staff at

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 2007. The Golden Bears won the 2010 WNIT and made postseason appearances in all of Boyle's remaining years as coach. Smith remained on the California staff when

Lindsay Gottlieb Lindsay Catherine Gottlieb (born October 2, 1977) is an American basketball coach who is the women's head coach for the USC Trojans women's basketball, USC Trojans of the Pac-12 Conference. She was previously the head coach of the California Golde ...

was named head coach in 2011. For the 2012−13 season, Gottlieb promoted Smith to associate head coach, helping to lead a team with high expectations coming off a second round NCAA tournament appearance in 2011−12. That year, California went 32–4 (17–1 in the Pac-10) and made their first ever Final Four appearance.

New York Liberty

On April 2, 2019, Smith joined

Katie Smith Katie Smith (born June 4, 1974) is lead assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is the former head coach of the New York Liberty. A retired professional basketball player, Smith's prima ...

's staff with the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

as an assistant coach. She served in that capacity for roughly two and a half months.

Return to California as head coach

Following Lindsay Gottlieb's departure for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

nine days earlier, Smith returned to California on June 21, 2019, being announced as the 10th head coach in California Golden Bears history. She departed New York with Katie Smith's blessing.

Head coaching record

References

External links

WNBA Player ProfileThis is Cal Basketball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Charmin 1975 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Sweden American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Missouri Basketball players from St. Louis Boston College Eagles women's basketball coaches California Golden Bears women's basketball coaches Ladue Horton Watkins High School alumni Minnesota Lynx players Phoenix Mercury players Portland Power players Seattle Storm players Solna Vikings players Stanford Cardinal women's basketball coaches Stanford Cardinal women's basketball players Guards (basketball)