Smith gets with the ladies

Maurice Smith is continuously climbing the chain of command in the GCSU basketball program.
After playing two seasons as a Bobcat and spending three years as a student and graduate assistant for the men’s team, Smith has been named the assistant coach for the GCSU women’s basketball program. Smith takes the reigns from Tabitha Vasilas, who left the school recently after two years to pursue other interests. Head Coach John Carrick is confident about the new addition.
“[Smith] brings youthful enthusiasm to the program,” Carrick said. “He also understands the game well and can provide many new and bright ideas. He will help to keep me on my toes.”
Smith is familiar with GCSU basketball. He played as a Bobcat from 1999-2001, helping the GCSU men’s team win a conference title and reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2000. “Moe”, as he is known around campus, also served as a student-assistant under GCSU men’s basketball head coach Terry Sellers in 2003-04 before spending the last two seasons as a graduate assistant coach with the Bobcats.
“The great thing about taking this job is that I already know most of the girls and I have a good relationship with them,” Smith said. “The pieces are in place. I want to be the person who gets the most potential out of my players.”
Smith and Carrick have a longstanding relationship. Smith’s high school coach, Darren Wilkins, formerly of Sumter County High School, was a former assistant to Carrick. Carrick grew to know Smith when GCSU first recruited him.
“The timing was absolutely wonderful for the program,” Carrick said. “When you hire from outside the university there is always the hassle of checking references and getting to know the person, but I have known [Smith] forever. The only thing he has to learn is women and their differences from men. [Smith] will definitely have a few hair-pulling-out sessions throughout the season.”
The team is currently conditioning for the upcoming season. They already impressed by his coaching approach.   “Coach Smith is very flexible,” said junior forward Marquita Driskell. “He is always encouraging us to improve. He is more than willing to answer questions and help us improve.”
Despite last year’s rocky regular season, The lady Bobcats plan to start this season exceptionally strong. The team’s confidence is up.
“The best thing about [Smith] is his positive attitude,” said senior guard Cassie Miliner. “Last season the team started the season on a low point, but this season we have a much more positive attitude.”
The Lady Bobcats went 17-14 overall last year. Although a low seed in the conference tournament, the team came on strong winning the 2006 Peach Belt Conference Tournament to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last five years.
“This experience has been exciting,” said Smith. It feels good to be able to work at my alma mater and it impresses me that GCSU thinks highly enough of me to hire me as a coach.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 15 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry