WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Smith sets goals for next year
By Katie McVoy
Assistant Sports Editor
The season is over. The team finished with a record of 8-18. Now what?
With one season under her belt, Saint Mary's head basketball coach Suzanne Smith has some decisions to make. She needs to move her team.
Doubling the number of wins the team had last season seems to be one step in the right direction.
But what is the next step? Where is this team going and what is the next mile marker on that path?
So, what is the destination? Well, better MIAA play for one. The Belles won only two conference games this season after starting off the season with six victories in nine games. Staying focused and unified seemed to be a problem for Saint Mary's following a break at Christmas. Smith is hoping to fix that problem next year.
"I think we can do very well in our conference," Smith said. "What do we need to do is compete in the conference — be prepared for the long season."
Step one to better play is working with this year's team. Smith called a meeting to discuss this past season and next season with her team.
"We just graduated one senior [Julie Norman]," Smith said. "If things go right everyone should come back."
With most of her team returning next season, Smith should have a step-up on this year's start. Smith didn't meet her team until August of this year.
"It's so nice right now," she said. "We can get together in the post season and throughout the summer and have a better idea of what we're doing — have some consistency."
That seems to be good for the short term. But what about the long term? What is Saint Mary's doing to improve the team for the long haul?
There are several things that the team has been lacking. With a long history of part-time coaches and losing records, getting successful players to look into the program has been a challenge. Recruiting needs to be improved.
For right now, Smith will have to stay focused on the South Bend and Chicago areas.
"I am from here locally, so I knew the area very well," Smith said. "So we've gotten out the information in the area around the South Bend area. That should help us out."
As a Division III coach, Smith plans to focus mainly on Midwest states surrounding Indiana, such as Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, for recruiting. Nationally, she will have to rely on other coaches or alumni contacting her about women wanting to play at Saint Mary's.
"The best way for Division III, I'll hit the Midwest," Smith said. "As far as outside of that [I'll rely on outside contacts]. That's how you get outside."
In addition to recruiting, Smith will be looking at facilities, coaching, and preparation for varsity basketball.
Saint Mary's has a history that lacks a junior varsity team. With no junior varsity team, students do not have the opportunity to be introduced gradually to playing at a collegiate level. They're thrown in with the sharks before they get to swim with the guppies.
Smith hopes to begin a junior varsity program to Saint Mary's next year to eliminate that problem and get students more experience playing college ball.
Smith is also hoping to have a "more concrete coaching staff." What that will mean is still unclear, however.
The athletic department has been looking into finding money in order to hire full time coaches, and this may or may not affect the basketball program. Regardless, with a junior varsity program in the works, the basketball program will need to have a larger coaching staff.
The actual court in Angela is excellent to playing on, according to Smith. However, locker facilities and training facilities will eventually need to be improved. Again, specifics are unclear and money will play an important role in those needed improvements.
With a team looking to move along the road to success, Smith is counting on fans to do their part as well.
"We need to keep improving fans here and the excitement," Smith said.
Crowds were less than capacity this season.
Aiming high may require a lot of work, but the work is ready to be done. The journey to success will not be short for the Belles basketball team, but Smith is ready to embark on that journey.
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, March 1, 2001
