Hartford, Con. – The last time Jackie Smith, a Westfield native, arrived in the city of Whip, was the main coach of the Women’s Basketball Team of the Connecticut College, while their colonials fought against Westfield’s state owls. Now, five years later, Smith is preparing for another type of house when he re -trained the university team he previously played.
Smith was appointed 12th main coach of the Hartford University Women’s Basketball Team, announced the school on Friday.
“It’s a fairly surreal feeling,” Smith said in an exclusive interview with Westfield News Monday. “ Hartford has always been home for me. It feels like a house house even more than returning home to play against that team in the Westfield State. My player experience was incredible, transformer.My best friends played with me; we are still friends to date. It’s all about alumni connection. I will be surrounded by friends who imported me and go to a program that changed my life. ”
Smith enters the program at a very different time and place that saw the attention of his command as a player on hard wood.
Hartford made five appearances in the Tournament of Division 1 of the NCAA from 2004-2011. The 2007-11 Star Star Guard, Smith, helped to lead the team to two Aramic East conference championships, two regular seasonal titles in America East, three appearances in the NCAA and the first first national ranking of the program in the Associated Press Poll (2010).
Smith became the second leader of all time as a free launch percentage (.825); And he finished seventh in the history of the school with 292 assists, sixth in the history of the school for 3 points made (107), fifth in attempts of 3 points (338) and eighth in played career games (122).
After Smith graduated in 2011, the Hawks did not return to the NCAA Division 1 Tournament. Now, with dramatically altered university sports and Hartford headed for a division 3 school this year, as the former player and coach is planning for a long time to recover a winning culture and restore past glory?
“Division 1 University Basketball is very different today,” Smith said. “There is no way to recreate what he did at that time with the current landscape of university sports with the Nile (name, image and similarity) and the transfer portal. We must play level D3, but it does not need to be recreated.”
Smith intends to use what his mentor taught him.
“Under coach [Jenn] Rizzotti, [the Hawks] He was very successful in finding Hartford players, a certain type of player with a grit and a high level of talent, “he said, noting his desire for Hartford to return to his roots.” I want to establish a level of pride and a level of responsibility and success. … I think I can do it -incorporating our alumni at the beginning. “”
Smith sees the transition from the division state school to division 3 as a blessing, not a curse.
“When you see ‘U of H’ through a D3 lens, it is incredible,” Smith said. “Instead of pursuing D1, we are now the upper D3 dog. I plan to use – [all of our resources] As per my advantage. “
It is not foreign to the various levels of the collegiate game.
After finishing his career at Hartford University, Smith joined the coach ranks as an assistant to Stonehill College (2012-13) where he helped guide the Skyhawks on a 24-5 record and a semi-final semifinals of the NCAA Division II tournament. He then became the highest assistant in Rizzotti at Hartford University in 2013-18, and again at George Washington University, helping revolutionaries to advance the 2018 NCAA Tournament, winning an automatic offer at the Atlantic 10 conference.
Smith landed his first training concert at the College Connecticut, guiding the colonials on a record of 13-11 and the sixth appearance of the team consecutive Nescac Tournament. He collected a 49-95 record in six seasons with the team.
No matter what level he has trained, Smith said his approach is still the same.
“We are likely to have no 6 -feet, 5 -inch or crazy athletic D1 players, but with X and O’s, planning, exploration, nothing has changed,” he said. “If we had stayed in Division 1, it would have spent most of the time winning and the dining rooms, so they would not leave. As a coach who likes to develop players and prepare them for life; I had an experience that changes life as a player, I want to pay ahead.”
Smith began his basketball trip at the age of five, learning the game at Westfield YMCA: It credits Youth Youth Sports Coordinator “Y’s” George Hart to inspire it at such an early age, and favored his love for the game in the Westfield Suburban League, the local Catholic Youth Organization and the Western Gueta. He continued to play the Holyoke High Purple Knights under the tutelage of titular coach Tom Brassil and his father, assistant coach Fran Smith, becoming an American guard at McDonald. At 5 feet, 9 inches, he scored 1,040 points during his four years of his career. He then went to college where he brought his game to even higher levels and, finally, coaching ranks.
“I think a lot of people constantly think about the next job and the next and their future,” Smith said. “I have always tried to do the best job I can do in the work in which I am. As a student-athlete, division 2 coach or coach of Division 1, I just did my best to all places where I have been. Things may not have been elaborated if they had not focused on my current position.”
Smith said that inherits a solid, young student-sportsmen solid group in Hartford from which to build a foundation around. In addition, he will look for university student athletes at Hartford Area, will return to the former players to provide a valuable vision and the coach and hope to inspire a new generation of ball players.
“I am being patient, establishing culture, but … I want things to start now, bring as much talent as I can and bring again students,” said Smith. “It will be a powerful and special thing to be around the women who are going through some of the same things I happened.”
The bar has been raised.
Smith said, “In my first year, I want to compete in the Tournament of Division 3”.
Whip City basketball fans are also welcome to joining the trip.
“We are not too far from Westfield,” he said. “Obviously, it is exciting to go see Uconn or Umass, but there will be good basketball for free in Hartford, so come and see our game.” – In this report, information from Hartford University and Connecticut College were used
Jackie Smith, a Westfield native, who saw here on the Connecticut College Women’s Basketball Team in 2024, has been appointed new lead coach at Hartford University. (Sean Eliot/Connecticut College)The Westfield News