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We continue our season preview coverage with Elon women’s coach Charlotte Smith. If you feared that Coach Smith might have peaked early during her playing days at North Carolina (title-winning buzzer-beater as a freshman and dunking in a game as a sophomore), think again. She was named an ABL All-Star in 1998, set a school record at Elon in 2012 for most wins by a 1st-year coach, and led her team to the postseason 4 years in a row after the Phoenix switched from the SoCon to the CAA in 2014. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Smith about winning a title and celebrating a birthday.
In the 1994 NCAA tourney title game as a freshman at UNC you made the title-winning 3-PT shot at the buzzer while tying a tourney record with 23 REB in a 1-PT win over Louisiana Tech en route to being named tourney MOP: what is the key to being a great rebounder, and how did that shot change your life (if at all)? The key to being a great rebounder revolves around making the decision to be one. Rebounding mainly takes effort and heart. I will say that I was blessed with the natural gift of being a leaper: I had a 32” vertical and could dunk a basketball by the time I was in high school so that was VERY helpful! However, rebounding is also about positioning and waiting for the trajectory of the basketball. You know that if a shot is taken from the left side of the floor that it is more than likely that it will come off the rim on the right side of the floor. You should box out well to secure the ball. You should not run underneath the rim for rebounding positioning because you will more than likely only get made rebounds. You should wait until the ball hits the rim so that you can understand the trajectory of the ball. More than anything, you have to be in it to win it: get in the paint! Crash the boards and give your team multiple opportunities.
You were a 2-time ACC Tournament MVP: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? I was always a competitor. All you had to do was roll the ball out for me and I was ready to compete…but I will confess that one of the best ways for me to be prepared was having my parents in the stands. They were my biggest fans and came to almost all of my games. Coach Hatchell used to swear that I was no good until my parents showed up: LOL! Tournament time was a very special moment where you had to lay it all on the line. You knew the situation was “one-and-done”. It was do-or-die time so you had to muster all of the mental fortitude you had, bring it all to the table, and leave everything on the floor.
In a game against North Carolina A&T on December 4, 1994, you became the 2nd female college basketball player ever to dunk in a game: how big a deal was it (for someone whose Twitter handle is “exdunker”), and did you get your vertical leap genes from your uncle David Thompson?! It was a big deal to become the second woman in the history of the game to dunk. I always thought that I would be #1 but little did I know that 6’7″ Georgeann Wells from West Virginia had already dunked years before I did (vs. the University of Charleston on 12/21/84). There was not much media coverage for women in sports so this 1st dunk was under a rock! It had always been a goal of mine to dunk in a college game so when I dunked in high school I thought it would be a piece of cake. There was so much pressure to actually do it in a game but when the time finally came there was a sigh of relief as if to say, “That is finally off my bucket list”. I credit the Thompson side of my family for my leaping ability. My uncle was known as “Skywalker” due to his own leaping ability and I wanted to be like him growing up.
You finished your college career with 2094 PTS/1200 REB: how were you able to balance your scoring with your rebounding? Balancing scoring and rebounding is not something you think about: it is just something you do! In order for your team to be successful you need as many possessions as possible and rebounding is one of the ways that you can control what you can control and provide more opportunities for your team.
In 2002 you were named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Team and you are 1 of only 2 UNC women’s basketball players to have her jersey retired: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? I consider myself to be immensely blessed to be considered one of the greatest to play this game! It was a proud moment because it was when I realized that hard work does pay off. It was also a moment that I was able to share with family and friends. It was just as much of an honor for them (my support circle) as it was for me.
After playing for Hall of Fame coach Sylvia Hatchell (whose 1023 career wins is #5 in NCAA women’s history) you later became her assistant: what made her such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from her? Coach Hatchell was a great coach because she instilled great inspiration and hope in young women. All of her life quotes ring in my head to this day. She planted seeds that have definitely produced a harvest because I cannot get her life lessons out of my mind.
In 2011 you were hired as head coach at Elon and set a school record for wins by a 1st-year coach: why did you take the job, and how were you able to come in and be so successful right from the start? I literally took the job because I felt like that is where God was leading me and it was where I felt at home. Not only that, I believed in Elon’s mission/vision/values regarding the total student-athlete. It was not an easy decision because I had some people opposed to it who felt I could not win at Elon and the resources necessary to sustain a winning culture were not there. Success does not come easy: it is built one brick at a time. You have to instill a sense of work ethic and pride in your program. You have to establish a vision for where you want to go and then get the people there to buy-in. You have to know how to win with people first. I tried my best to cultivate good relationships with my players and connect with them as people. I tried my best to show them that I genuinely cared for them and that I was invested for their sake, not my own.
You won 25+ games and made the NCAA tourney in both 2017/2018 before going 9-21 last year: what caused the downturn, and how easy will it be to get things going in the right direction? As a leader you have to make tough decisions and there were some decisions that I made on my own and some decisions that were made for me. I had to part ways with a player whom I love dearly and then I lost our defensive player of the year to an ACL injury. These were two players who were back-to-back champions and knew what it took to win…and I did not have either of them with me last season. We had several other injuries and then it was compounded by a lot of youth. These were insurmountable hurdles that were difficult to overcome, but in all things we are to give thanks. I am grateful for that season of losses and lessons because it taught me a lot about both myself and the team that could never be learned through wins. Adversity can be one of the best teachers in life. To get things going in the right direction all you can do is continue to do the things that got you to the top, see if there are any things you need to add or subtract, and take it one day at a time during the building process. You need to have the virtue of patience.
You had a birthday in late-August: what did you do for the big day? I celebrated my day with my Hoop Phi sisters from UNC. I have a core group of friends I consider sisters and we enjoy celebrating one another through time spent together and a good meal.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? My goals for this season are to try to find ways to maintain a work/life balance because when I am at my best everyone around me benefits. My goal is to help everyone that God has entrusted under my stewardship to become the best version of themselves. I love winning championships, but more importantly I love helping people win in life!