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Truman State University Athletics

Michael Smith

Michael Smith was hired as the ninth Truman Women’s Basketball Head Coach in 2008 and enters his fifth season at the helm with a record of 48-60.
 
Under Smith, the Bulldogs have increased their win total each season cumulating last year with a 17-10 record, the most wins since the 1999-2000 season. They also posted the highest conference winning percentage in over a dozen years while qualifying for their second straight MIAA postseason tournament.
 
The 2011-12 Bulldogs started the campaign by winning eight of their first nine games and received votes in the WBCA/USA Today Division II Top 25 poll. It was the first time in six years Truman has garnered mentions in the poll.  Truman set a school record for points allowed per game at 60.4 which was 2.2 points lower than the record set in the 1981-82 season and the lowest number of turnovers per game (13.3) in team history.
 
Junior Becca McHenry and senior Breanna Daniels were named all-conference. McHenry was one of the league’s top point guards, leading the team in scoring and assists while also notching the first triple-double since Amy Eagan in 1998. Daniels joined the Bulldog 1,000 career-point club and finished her Bulldog tenure eighth all-time with 1,213 points.
 
Truman finished 12-15 in 2010-11 with a 10-12 MIAA mark and five wins on the road in league play. Junior Breanna Daniels led the team in scoring and was a third team all-conference selection while senior point guard Amy Galey and sophomore post Jennifer Conway got honorable mention all-league nods.
 
In 2009-10, the Bulldogs finished 11-16 overall and 6-14 in the MIAA.  Truman won four straight before its season finale to make a late charge at the conference tournament but ended up two games short of eighth place.  Sophomore Breanna Daniels earned honorable mention all-conference honors after leading the team with a 13.1 points per game mark.
 
In his first season at Truman, the Bulldogs went 8-19 and tied for eighth in the MIAA. The squad won four of their final six games and lost a standings tie-breaker for the right to compete in the conference’s post-season tournament.
 
The Bulldog program has also excelled in the classroom under Smith’s tutelage. Truman finished sixth in Division II following the 2010-11 season in cumulative grade-point average with a team GPA of 3.57 and all 13 team members posted a cumulative GPA of 2.95 or higher, with nine surpassing the 3.30 mark. Three team members earned the MIAA’s Academic Excellence award for turning in a 4.00 GPA.
 
He previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock as well as a head coach at Moberly Area Community College.

Smith graduated from Central Methodist University and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State University in 1996. Upon completion of his master’s degree in 1998, Smith was hired as an assistant coach at Angelo State University (San Angelo, Texas).

After a successful four seasons at ASU which ended with back-to-back Lone Star Conference South Division Championships, a conference tournament title and an NCAA tournament berth in 2002, Smith was then named head coach at Moberly (Mo.) Area Community College. In his first head coaching job, Smith guided the Lady Greyhounds to a 102-34 record over the next four seasons.

During his tenure at MACC, the Lady Greyhounds were ranked nationally in the Top 25 poll 27 times between 2003 and 2006 and peaked as high as number two in the 2005-2006 preseason ranking. The Lady Greyhounds made consecutive NJCAA National Tournament appearances for the first time in 15 years and won the consolation championship at the tournament in 2005.

Personally, Smith was named Region XVI and District L Coach of the Year twice while at MACC.

Prior to his tenure beginning at Truman, Smith served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Division I University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

In his first year, the Trojans went 21-10, which was a school record in wins, and had the third best scoring defense in Division I – holding opponents to just under 53 points a game. Last season, the Trojans set another school record with 23 wins and captured the school’s first Sun Belt Conference West Division championship. They received a bid to the WNIT tournament and finished with again the third best scoring defense in Division I at 52.0 ppg.

Smith and his wife Melanie live in Kirksville with their two sons, Cooper and Devin.