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Former Walsh University women’s basketball coach Karl Smesko is heading to the WNBA.
The Atlanta Dream announced the hiring of Smesko as the team’s head coach on Wednesday. The Bath, Ohio, native comes to the WNBA after a successful 23-year career as Florida Gulf Coast’s head coach. He led Walsh to the NAIA Division II national championship in 1998.
“I am humbled and honored to be the head coach of the Atlanta Dream,” Smesko said in a release announcing his hiring. “I am grateful for a remarkable 23 years at FGCU and will be forever indebted to the amazing women who have played for me, the incredible professionals who have coached with me and the passionate fanbase who supported us along the way.
“I’m thankful to the leadership of the Atlanta Dream for their faith in me to lead this organization into the future and can’t wait to get started.”
Smesko ranks third behind Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma and LSU’s Kim Mulkey among active NCAA Division I coaches with an .843 winning percentage. His 672 wins ranks eighth among active coaches.
During his 23 years at Florida Gulf Coast, Smesko went 611-110 (.847) and won 14 Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championships and 11 ASUN Tournament titles. His teams reached the NCAA Tournament 10 times.
FGCU’s 2021 and 2022 NCAA Tournament teams were led by former McKinley star Kierstan Bell before she became the program’s first WNBA first-round draft pick in 2022. The Eagles upset Virginia Tech in the first round of the 2022 tournament.
Smesko’s only season at Walsh produced an improbable title run. The 1997-98 Cavaliers became the first unseeded team to win an NAIA national championship. They received the final bid to the NAIA Division II Tournament.
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Former Walsh women’s coach Karl Smesko hired by WNBA’s Atlanta Dream
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