Athens, Ohio – Stephanie Haas, who spent the past two seasons as the FGCU women's basketball program's video coordinator after scoring over 1,000 career points from 2012-16, has been named an assistant coach for the Ohio University women's basketball program.

"I am so excited for Steph," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "This is a great opportunity for her. She gets to move to an on-floor coaching position in an excellent program. Coach (Bob) Boldon is an outstanding coach, so it will be a great learning experience. Steph is extremely bright and has an excellent work ethic. She will be a great assistant."

Haas came to FGCU as a walk on in the summer of 2012, earned a scholarship one year later and finished with 1,135 career points. She earned the team's most improved player award as a freshman and closed her career with back-to-back ASUN Scholar Athlete of the Year and Division-I AAA Scholar-Athlete Team selections.

"I want to thank everyone at FGCU for the past six years, especially Coach Smesko, who has been an amazing coach and mentor in teaching me the game of basketball," Haas said. "I am grateful for this opportunity to advance my career, and I am very excited to be joining Coach Boldon and the entire Ohio University coaching staff. I look forward to becoming a part of such a great program."

Smesko and Boldon, who is entering his sixth season as the head coach of the Bobcats, have worked on the same staff at three different schools, including the 2009-10 campaign at FGCU. The duo was also together at IPFW (1999-01) and Walsh College (1997-98).

Haas, who was part of a staff comprised of all former FGCU women's basketball student-athletes the past two years, continues to grow the Coach Smesko coaching tree.
 
In addition to current staff members Chelsea Banbury ('08), Chelsea Lyles ('10), Jenna Cobb ('15) and Amanda Pierce ('08), other former student-athletes now in the coaching industry are: Kate (Schrader) Bruce ('07), who is the head coach at Walsh University; Jenn Conely ('07), who is an assistant coach at Walsh University; Shannon Murphy ('11), who is an assistant coach at Embry-Riddle; Jaime Gluesing ('16), who is an assistant coach at Milwaukee; Brittany Brown ('10), who is the head coach at Community College of Rhode Island); Betsy Adams ('13), who is an assistant coach at University of Incarnate Word; and Jessica Cattani ('18), who is a graduate assistant coach at Western Kentucky. Furthermore, Katie Meador ('16) is the head girls basketball coach at Centralia (Ill.) High School, and Sarah Hansen ('14) was a graduate assistant coach at Mercyhurst University last year.

Additionally, several former assistant coaches have moved up in the business. Nicki Collen, who was an assistant from 2014-16, is now the head coach of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream. LeAnn Freeland-Curry, who was an assistant coach from 2003-07, has won over 200 career games as a head coach at the University of Indianapolis (2007-11) and Nova Southeastern (2011-present). Ericka Haney, who was the team's video coordinator from 2007-09, is now the special assistant to head coach Kevin McGuff at The Ohio State University.
 
FGCU SUMMER CAMP
The FGCU women's basketball program is hosting a summer camp June 18-21 in Alico Arena for girls entering grades 5-12 in the fall of 2018. To register, and for more information, visit the camp's website page here. You can also contact director of basketball operations, Mandi Pierce by email at apierce@fgcu.edu or by phone at 239-590-1566.

COACH SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko led the 2017-18 Eagles to another historic season. The Green and Blue finished 31-5 overall and 13-1 in ASUN play, capturing the program's eighth ASUN regular season championship and fifth ASUN tournament championship. The team finished the season ranked 25th in the final USA Today Coaches Poll, produced winning streaks of 12 and 10 games, recaptured the NCAA record for most 3-point field goals made in a season with 431 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in seven seasons, where the Eagles knocked off 5th-seeded and No. 15 ranked Missouri in the opening round. It was the team's second tournament win over the past three appearances. Over the course of the season, FGCU knocked off three ranked teams - No. 15 Missouri, No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 DePaul.

Over the past four seasons, Smesko has guided FGCU to three 30 plus win seasons while recording a 121-23 (.840) record overall. The now eight-time ASUN Coach of the Year rallied the 2016-17 team to its seventh straight 25-win campaign, culminating in an ASUN tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance. In 2015-16, he was named the espnW mid-major coach of the year following a run that witnessed the Eagles claim a WNIT runner-up finish and a Division-I program best ever 33-6 record. In 2014-15, the team achieved its first-ever top-25 ranking and made another trip to the NCAA Tournament, where the Eagles earned a No. 7 seed and won the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament game, toppling No. 10 seed Oklahoma State.

Including the 2017-18 campaign, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 14-straight 20-win seasons and eight-straight 25-win seasons. He maintains a record of 496-114 (.813) overall in his career, including a 170-16 (.914) mark in ASUN play. Over the past seven seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 106-4 (.964) record in conference play with four undefeated seasons. Smesko earned his 400th career coaching win in 2014-15 in just 493 career games, two games faster than UConn's Geno Auriemma. Entering 2016-17, he ranked among an elite list of just four active Division I coaches with a career win percentage of .800 or higher, joining Auriemma, Baylor's Kim Mulkey and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer in the esteemed group. Over the past year, first-year NCAA Division-I head coaches Nancy Fahey (Illinois) and Bart Brooks (Belmont) pushed the list to six.

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the women's basketball program, follow @FGCU_WBB on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook at /FGCUWBB.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help.