Maureen Smith enters her fifth season as the head women's basketball coach at East Stroudsburg University during the 2014-15 season after leading the Warriors to the PSAC quarterfinals in 2013-14.
Smith, who was named head coach in April 2010, brought 17 years of coaching experience, including nine as an assistant at the Division I level, to her second stint with the ESU women’s basketball program. She was the graduate assistant coach during the 1994-95 season when the Warriors advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and won the only PSAC championship in school history.
ESU advanced to the PSAC quarterfinals for the first time since 2008 during the 2013-14 season and posted its first winning record since 2007, going 15-13 overall. The Warriors won their first round PSAC Tournament game at Millersville, 49-48, on a 3-pointer by Ryann Fiascki with 1.9 seconds left. The regular season included home wins over Shippensburg and Millersville.
In 2012-13, ESU made its first PSAC Tournament trip since 2008 and battled Millersville in a 42-31 loss in the first round.
Forward Jessica Martin was the first ESU player named first team All-PSAC East since 2009 during the 2013-14 season. One of the top shot blockers in Division II, Martin has ranked in the top 20 in DII in each of her first three seasons. She is already in the PSAC's all-time top 10 with 207 career blocks entering her senior year, including setting a PSAC freshman record with 77.
Martin was the PSAC East Freshman of the Year in 2011-12 and was named to the All-PSAC East second team in 2012 and 2013.
During the 2011-12 season, the Warriors had a six-win improvement from Smith's first to second season, going 11-15 and placing fifth in the eight-team PSAC East. ESU's 11 wins included two over PSAC Tournament qualifiers in Millersville and West Chester.
Martin and senior guard Cyara Woodridge were named to the All-PSAC East second team, and Martin and junior transfer Fayola Moise were both in the top 10 in the PSAC in rebounding.
Guard Andrea Veres was one of the PSAC's top freshmen in 2010-11, receiving five PSAC East Freshman of the Week awards. Martin received seven awards in 2011-12.
Smith, a native of Blairstown, N.J. and a graduate of North Warren High School, was an assistant coach at University High School in Orlando, Florida before coming to ESU. She had previously coached three seasons at the Division I Junior College level at Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida. Her University High School team won a school-record 26 games and conference and district championships.
At Seminole State, Smith was named the Mid-Florida Conference Coach of the Year in 2007-08 after guiding the program to a 27-4 record and the conference title. The team finished the season ranked second in Florida and 14th in the nation in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
She compiled a 56-33 record in three years at Seminole State, including a 21-15 record in conference play. Her teams were 17-13 in 2006-07, tying for third in the conference, and 12-16 in 2008-09.
While at Seminole State, she coached three NJCAA All-Americans, two Academic All-Americans, 18 all-conference and eight academic all-conference performers. Her student-athletes achieved a 100 percent matriculation rate and full scholarships from schools including Division I Alabama, Florida and Florida Atlantic and Division II Clayton State and Dowling College.
Prior to her first head coaching position, Smith was an assistant at four Division I programs over nine seasons.
She coached at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan for two years, which included a four-month stint as the interim head coach prior to the 2005-06 season. She was part of a program that set the school record with 22 wins in 2004-05 while competing in the Mid-Continent Conference.
Smith also held assistant coaching positions at Southern Illinois University, the University of Central Florida and Bradley University (Ill.) at the Division I level and Elmhurst College (Ill.) and Cedar Crest College in Division III.
She was at Southern Illinois in 2003-04 after a four-year tenure at Central Florida, which culminated with the 2002-03 Atlantic Sun championship as the Golden Knights went 19-11 and posted a conference record of 13-3.
She coached at Bradley in 1997-98 and 1998-99 and Elmhurst in 1995-96 and 1996-97 following her year as the graduate assistant at ESU, where she earned her Master of Education in Sport Management with a 4.0 GPA. She began her coaching career at Cedar Crest in 1993-94.
Smith was a two-year starter during her college career at Florida International University, which won the Trans America Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships and played in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) during her senior year in 1991-92. She matriculated at FIU after two years at Broward Community College, where she was a 1990 Florida Junior College All-Star and a two-year starter.
Smith holds a bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing degree from Florida International in 1992. She also earned an associate of Arts in Business Administration degree from Broward in 1990, along with her graduate degree in Sport Management from ESU. She resides in the Poconos with her husband Chris and dog, Luke.
Her additional experience includes serving as assistant director at the Horsholm Invitational Camp in Horsholm, Denmark in 2009 and assistant coach positions in golf at Seminole State and softball at Elmhurst.
Maureen Smith By the Numbers
• 38-69 record (.355) in 4 seasons
• PSAC quarterfinals in 2014
• PSAC Tournament in 2013 and 2014
• 6-win improvement from 2010-11 to 2011-12
• 8-win improvement from 2012-13 to 2013-14
• 1 PSAC East Freshman of the Year - Jessica Martin (2012)
• 1 All-PSAC East 1st team player (Martin - 2014)
• 2 All-PSAC players (Martin - 2012, 2013 and 2014, Cyara Woodridge - 2012)
