FGCU head coach Karl Smesko addresses his team.
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko addresses his team. Credit: FGCU Athletics

Karl Smesko will become the Atlanta Dreamโ€™s next head coach, the team announced Wednesday.

Smeskoโ€™s hire comes after the Dream parted ways with head coach Tanisha Wright following three seasons in October. Smesko will take over an Atlanta franchise that was eliminated by the eventual WNBA champion New York Liberty in the first round of this yearโ€™s WNBA playoffs.

โ€œIโ€™m thankful to the leadership of the Atlanta Dream for their faith in me to lead this organization into the future and canโ€™t wait to get started,โ€ Smesko said in the teamโ€™s press release. โ€œI am humbled and honored to be the head coach.โ€

Smesko will lead the Dream after coaching womenโ€™s college basketball for 23 seasons at Florida Gulf Coast, steering a program that began on the NAIA D-II level and built into a perennial team in the womenโ€™s NCAA tournament. Before FGCU, Smesko entered the coaching ranks as a head coach at Walsh University (1997-98), before spending one year as an assistant at Maryland (1998-99) under womenโ€™s basketball hall of fame coach Chris Weller and two seasons at Indianaโ€™s Purdue Fort Wayne.

After more than two decades of coaching experience, Smesko exits the collegiate ranks with 672 winsโ€”the eighth most among active head coachesโ€”and the third highest winning percentage (.843) among NCAAโ€™s Division I womenโ€™s college basketball. He trails only UConnโ€™s Geno Auriemma and LSUโ€™s Kim Mulkey. 

At FGCU, Smesko led the Eagles to 14 Atlantic Sun regular season titles, 11 ASUN tournament championships, 14 consecutive 25-win seasons and 10 NCAA tournament appearances.

โ€œI 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,โ€ Smesko said.

In October, following Atlanta moving on from Wright, Dream general manager Dan Padover said the franchiseโ€™s next coach would be someone โ€œwith a lot of creativityโ€ as well as a coach who brought โ€œjoy to the players, the fan baseโ€ and someone who could โ€œelevate the team to the next level.โ€

Smesko is no stranger to his success on the hardwood. However, his massive amount of wins stems from his talent for player development and building relationships between his players and his coaching staff. Currently, 22 of his former players are coaching, which includes three assistants on the Eaglesโ€™ coaching staff.

In addition, three more of his former assistant coaches are in head coaching roles on the collegiate.

โ€œWe are excited to have Karl [Smesko] bring his incredible basketball IQ to the Dream,โ€ Dream general manager Dan Padover said in the teamโ€™s press release on Wednesday. โ€œKarl is a proven leader with a history of developing his players and creating a winning culture.โ€

The Dream will hold a formal press conference to introduce Smesko as the franchiseโ€™s head coach next week.

Wilton Jackson II covers the Atlanta Dream and the SEC for The Next. A native of Jackson, Miss., Wilton previously worked for Sports Illustrated along with other media outlets. He also freelances for different...

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