California women’s basketball head coach Charmin Smith has signed a three-year contract extension, Cal Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton announced Thursday. Smith, who recently completed her fifth year as head coach, is now signed through the 2028-29 season.
“We are excited to extend Charmin’s contract as we generate momentum with our move to the ACC,” Knowlton said. “Charmin took our team to a new level this season, and I’m excited about the direction of our program under her leadership. Charmin understands and embraces everything it takes to thrive as a Cal student-athlete, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for our team.”
Smith had her best year at the helm in 2023-24 as the Golden Bears won their most overall (19) and conference (seven) games since the 2018-19 season. Smith also guided Cal into the postseason for the first time since 2018-19 as the Bears earned an at-large bid and a No. 2 seed in this year’s inaugural NCAA Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. Under Smith’s guidance this season, the team also had its first weekend home and road sweeps of Pac-12 schools (both against Washington and Washington State) since 2018-19, swept Oregon for the first time since 2012-13 and set a program record for 3-pointers (282) in a season. The season sweeps of Oregon, Washington and Washington State mark the first time Cal has swept three different Pac-12 schools since 2017-18. The Bears also advanced to the quarterfinals of this year’s Pac-12 Tournament for the first time since 2019-20. Smith was named ESPN’s Coach of the Week on Jan. 8.
Next season, Smith will welcome a Top 25 (ESPN) recruiting class that features two ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 players in Kamryn Mafua (54) and Zahra King (76) along with recently named Gatorade and MaxPreps Hawaii State Player of the Year Lola Donez.
“Cal is where I want to be and I’m thrilled that Jim and our university are committed to me leading this team into the ACC,” Smith said. “We accomplished a lot of great things this season and have momentum moving into next year during the most exciting time in women’s basketball. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and I’m looking forward to taking the next steps with this special staff and the talent we are fortunate to coach.”
https://calbears.com/news/2024/4/4/womens-basketball-charmin-smith-signs-contract-extension.aspx
