Karl Smesko has become synonymous with a unique style of offensive basketball over the past two decades on the Florida Gulf Coast. He prioritizes efficiency to the nth degree and trains his players to get the best shots possible, whether it’s layups with an edge, catch-and-shoot 3s, or anything that doesn’t. is not contested from an optimal location on the field.
The Eagles classify these baskets as “above the line,” or ATL, shots.
This nickname may already be mentioned at his next job, but the concept remains the same. On Wednesday, Smesko was appointed Dream of Atlantathe new head coach of. ATL meets “ATL”. Arguably college basketball’s most distinct offense comes to WNBAas Smesko manages to merge a historically successful system with elite athletes on the biggest stage.
“For me, it’s about taking on a new challenge and working with the greatest women’s basketball players in the world,” he said.
Smesko, who has coached at FGCU since 2002, has long been considered one of the top college coaches in the country. His peers have named him among the top offensive X’s and O’s practitioners and game planners in The Athletic’s anonymous coaches’ polls over the past two seasons. Entering this year, he had the third highest winning percentage among active coaches behind UConnby Geno Auriemma and LSUIt’s Kim Mulkey. Over the past decade, only Auriemma, Mulkey and South CarolinaDawn Staley’s has over 30 winning seasons.
The secret sauce has always been Smesko’s willingness to think outside the box and experiment. This has resulted in a radical offensive approach that places a heavy emphasis on 3-point shots. Since 2009-10 (year one data is available via Her Hoop Stats), FGCU has finished in the top four in Division I with a 3-point attempt rate each season. In seven of those 15 seasons, the Eagles have led DI in shot attempt percentage from beyond the arc, peaking at 49.1% in 2021-22.
Smesko, 54, keeps notebooks of ideas, most of which he says he has never tried. Perhaps some of those plans will emerge with the Dream, who are seeking a third straight playoff appearance for the first time since 2012-14.
A running joke at FGCU was that every player was listed as a “shooter” on his position designation rather than as a guard, forward or center. Smesko said the designation is an aspiration for some, but he wanted to instill the mindset that anyone can be a good shooter with the right approach.
“The one thing we know for sure is we’re going to play very effective basketball,” Atlanta general manager Dan Padover said.
Padover and the Dream fired Tanisha Wright after three seasons following their first round playoff loss to the New York Liberty. Ownership and management worked closely with search firm Korn Ferry to find their next coach. They were looking for candidates with three main qualities: proven winners, innovative basketball minds and culture builders. Past experience as a head coach was also important. They assembled a group of more than 50 candidates from diverse backgrounds, and Padover said they spoke to more than 35 candidates. Discussions between Smesko and Dream have resumed over the past week.
Smesko’s father was a high school basketball coach in Ohio, and Smesko grew up interested in the profession. The emphasis on shooting efficiency didn’t come from his father, but it was how he learned the importance of fundamentals and denying opponents extra possessions.
Smesko’s approach began to crystallize when he was a student at Kent State in the early 1990s. He observed and read about the use of movement and scouting by coaches like Bob Knight. He realized that so many teams across the country were ineffective and didn’t use the 3-point game enough. In his first head coaching opportunity at Walsh University in Ohio, he made his reads come true by playing a five-out system that spaced guards around the 3-point line. “It was pretty simple math that was just ignored at the time,” he said.
His system doesn’t demand 3s at all costs, but rather the right regimen of triples: catches and shots in the paint, jumps in transition before defenses’ sets, open looks in rhythm and balance. He enjoys getting behind defenses to shoot closer to the basket, but said, “If you have the right personnel, I have no problem shooting the 3. You just have to have the adequate staff for this.
Smesko inherits two Dream players Rhyne Howard And Allisha Gray with the necessary skills to integrate seamlessly into their system. Both are high-volume 3-point shooters who can also score off the dribble and play at a high pace. However, they will have to get rid of certain habits from recent years in Atlanta.
Despite having two All-Stars, Atlanta had the WNBA’s least efficient offense and lowest field goal percentage. The Dream ranked ninth in the league in 3-point rate; In their franchise history, they have never reached the 30 percent mark. They were last in pace and Howard hit 19.3 percent of his shots from mid-range (87 total). As a team, FGCU has attempted 30 during the entire 2023-24 season.
“We have to exploit their strengths and put them in optimal positions so they can play to their greatness,” Smesko said of Howard and Gray.
He has a consistent track record of improving the effectiveness of different types of players. Kierstan Bella former first round pick and The Aces of Las Vegas wing, arrived at FGCU in 2020 after a season at Ohio State and his effective success percentage increased from 48.3 to 60.2. Smaller guards like Kendall Spray And Alyza Winstonwho thought he needed pull-up jumpers in the mid-range, came to life with the Eagles. For Dream to continue to grow, players will need to start seeing the game Smesko’s way.
Adjustments will be necessary from NCAA to the WNBA, including the pace of play. However, Smesko already often watches film 10-20% faster than live, so the game action seems slower and he can make decisions more quickly. He will also have to adapt to the difference in refereeing between the two levels. Smesko’s teams thrive on freedom of movement, and even players who don’t turn into knockdown shooters fulfill their role by opening up the court with their cuts and slides. If this off-ball movement is stopped by restraint and a physical presence that is not called for fouls, the flow of the offense will change.
After agreeing to a multi-year contract, Smesko joins the WNBA amid a explosion of interest and the economy. Yet WNBA coaches have never faced such instability, with some in the league pointing to the higher stakes as the underlying reason for so many coaching changes. Seven franchises completed head coach changes this past offseason, with six departures after no more than two seasons. He’s leaving a program he built from its beginnings — he was FGCU’s first women’s basketball coach — for a more precarious position.
There are no recent comparisons regarding the jump made by Smesko. A WNBA franchise didn’t hire a coach without NBAG League or previous WNBA experience (player, assistant or head coach) since Sky hired Pokey Chatman in 2011 from Spartak Moscow after his tenure at LSU. Padover said the only recent WNBA coach whose resume even closely resembles Smesko’s is Curt Miller, who was Bowling greenhead coach at Indiana for more than a decade and had brief stints at Indiana and as The Sparks of Los Angeles assistant in front of the Connecticut Sun hired him in 2016.
“There’s no better time for a coach to come into the league than right now,” Padover said. “There will be (eight) head coaches with their team for the first year. I think someone with head coaching experience at any level will have a big advantage right now.
Smesko’s philosophy is based on the search for benefits. He knows he has a lot to learn, but he has confidence in the Dream’s potential.
“Anyone coming into a new league is going to have a learning curve,” Padover said. “But someone as smart as Karl, as adaptable as Karl, is going to figure it out.”
This article was originally published in Athletics.
Atlanta Dream, WNBA, women’s college basketball
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