Darryl Smith named Nanooks head women’s basketball coach

Submitted by Jamie Schanback
Phone: 907-474-6807
07/01/08

University of Alaska Fairbanks athletics director Forrest Karr announced Tuesday that Darryl Smith will be the next head women’s basketball coach for the Alaska Nanooks.

Smith brings more than 17 years of college coaching experience to UAF, including 15 combined years as a head coach at Metropolitan State College of Denver, Wichita State University and Butler Community College. As a head coach, he has turned in a 267-163 career record (.621 winning percentage), eight 20-win seasons, four conference championships and four NCAA Tournament bids.

"Darryl’s passion for teaching and learning is instantly recognizable," said Karr. "I had the opportunity to speak with administrators and coaches from each of Darryl’s previous institutions. Every one pointed out the respect Darryl earned from players and talked about his positive effect on coworkers and their entire department."

Smith comes to Alaska after spending a season as an assistant coach with the NCAA Division I University of Nevada. The Wolf Pack had an 18-12 record in Smiths brief stint with the program, up from 17-15 in 2006-07.

Before he signed on with Nevada’s coaching staff, Smith spent two seasons as the head coach at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan., where he led his team to a 23-10 record and the Region IV semifinal game in 2006-07.

Prior to Butler CC, Smith spent five years as the head women’s basketball coach at Wichita State where he led the Shockers to a 74-68 overall record and a pair of Women’s National Invitational Tournament invitations in 1999 and 2000: the only two postseason appearances in school history. In 1999-00, he guided Wichita State to a 20-10 overall record and a 14-4 Missouri Valley Conference record, the first 20-win season and the best regular-season MVC finish in school history, as well as an appearance in the WNIT. For his efforts, he was named the 2000 Rawlings Missouri Valley and Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year.

Smith also served as the head coach at Metro State for eight years, putting together six 20-win seasons and a 160-64 overall record. A three-time conference coach of the year, he guided the Roadrunners to three appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, three conference championships and three conference tournament titles during his tenure at Metro State. He also spent one season as an assistant coach at Cal State-San Bernardino in 1990.

A native of San Jose, Calif., Smith earned his bachelor’s degree in education from the College of Great Falls in Montana in 1981.

"I want to thank Pamm Hubbard for leading a flawless search process," said Karr. "I also want to thank the other five members of the search committee for their time and effort in this month-long process. They’ve done an excellent job of narrowing down a qualified group and helping find a coach that will benefit our student-athletes and create an exciting atmosphere for basketball fans in Fairbanks in the near future."

The UAF athletics department will hold a welcome press conference for Coach Smith on Monday, July 21 at the Patty Center’s Nanook Lounge.