Sacred Heart staff update

-Three fresh faces will join the SHU women’s basketball squad as new Sacred Heart Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jessica Mannetti announced her coaching staff Monday morning. Jessica Smith, William Ingersoll and Lisa Etienne will round out the Pioneers’ leadership for the 2013-14 season.

Smith comes to Sacred Heart after seven years as the women’s basketball head coach at the University of New Haven. During her time with the Chargers, Smith collected two regular-season conference titles, a pair of trips to the conference championship game and an appearance in the 2007 NCAA Northeast Regional. She led New Haven through the transition to the prestigious DII conference Northeast-10, and reached the tournament as the No. 11 seed in the first season. In the first round of that 2008-09 tournament, Smith led the Chargers to an 80-74 upset of No. 6 Assumption. Prior to working at New Haven, Smith served as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Miami University of Ohio for five season. In her tenure at Miami, the RedHawks won the Mid-American Conference regular-season title and advanced to the second round of the WNIT in 2004, and in 2003, won the Mid-American Conference’s East Division. A 1995 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Smith started her coaching career as a student assistant coach from 1992-95, and was hired as a full-time assistant for the 1995-96 season. That season, the Rams made their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance while winning a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.

Ingersoll has spent the last three years serving as an assistant coach under Debbie Taylor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. after serving two years as the team’s Director of Operations. His primary roles were to help plan and run practices, help with the development of the team’s post players and assist with both recruitment and opponent scouting. During his first season with the Tribe, Ingersoll helped freshman Kaitlyn Mathieu earn CAA All-Rookie honors. He got his start with the program while earning his undergraduate degree at W&M. He graduated in 2008 with a degree in Finance, and in 2010 with his MBA.

Etienne most recently worked at Colgate serving as an assistant coach under Nicci Hayes Fort for the past three seasons. A four-year member of the Hartford Hawks women’s basketball team from 2005-2009, Etienne played a key role in leading the Hawks to two NCAA second-round appearances as well as clinching two America East Championships in 2005 and 2008. During her time playing at Hartford, she was named to the 2009 America East All-Defensive Team and All-Conference Second Team, and in 2008 she was named the 2008 America East Tournament MVP. In addition to becoming a top-flight coach after graduation, Etienne was a veteran instructor of basketball camps hosted by the Fairfield Stags, Jennifer Rizzotti and the Hartford Knights.

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