Camryn Brown, a Copley, Ohio native, joined the women's basketball program as an assistant coach in July, 2022 and enters her third season on staff for FGCU.
In 2023-24 with the Eagles, Brown helped guide FGCU to its seventh consecutive ASUN Tournament title and its 10th NCAA Tournament berth in program history. The Eagles went a perfect 16-0 in ASUN play for the seventh time in school history, winning its 14th all-time regular season championship.
FGCU won all 16 conference games by double digits, with the smallest margin of victory being 11 and the largest being 42 points for an average of a dominating 24.5 points. Overall, FGCU went 29-5 as coach Smesko would reach win No. 600 at FGCU. Only FGCU and UConn have won 25 or more games for 14 consecutive seasons. FGCU allowed a league-leading 55.0 points per game and even held Iowa phenom Caitlin Clark to her lowest offensive output of the season.
FGCU narrowly advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year, ultimately falling to fifth-seeded Oklahoma 70-73 at the buzzer as a 12-seed in Bloomington, Indiana. The Eagles notched a home Power Five win over Kentucky and upset No. 18 North Carolina 65-64 in the Gulf Coast Showcase. The Green and Blue received votes in the AP Poll with the win over the Tar Heels and finished the season ranked No. 2 overall in the CollegeInsider.com’s Mid Major Top 25 Poll.
The Eagles knocked down 323 3-pointers in just 34 games, ranking sixth in the nation. The Eagles have made 300-plus three for 15 straight years. In a year of streaks, FGCU kept both its home (32) and conference winning streak alive (41). Emani Jefferson earned the ASUN’s Triple Crown, winning the Player, Defensive and Newcomer of the Year Award. No Eagle has ever accomplished the feat.
Jefferson was also named a WBCA All-America Honorable Mention. Uju Ezudu was an ASUN First Team selection, while Maddie Antenucci landed on the ASUN’s All-Academic squad. Dolly Cairns was awarded the CSC Academic All-District honors and as a team, the Eagles posted a 3.47 GPA.
Before FGCU, the Copley, Ohio, native spent two seasons at West Virginia State University as an assistant coach, where she helped lead the team to a 26-19 record over her tenure.
A 2020 graduate of High Point University, Brown played her final collegiate season for Chelsea Banbury, the former FGCU standout and associate head coach who took over head coach duties at High Point in the summer of 2019. She played in 121 games (90 starts) during her four years there while recording 1,305 points.
Brown was named Big South Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year after a remarkable senior season, where she dropped 44 points and made 10 shots from behind the arc in a game against Winthrop to break school and conference records in both categories. She was named Big South Player of the Week on three occasions and was even named to the NCAA's Starting Five once.
Brown played in all 62 games of her junior and sophomore seasons with 60 starts. The biggest moment of her career happened in the Big South Championship quarterfinal during her sophomore year. She hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to defeat Presbyterian that landed her the No. 3 spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 that week.
As a freshman, she played in all 30 games and was selected to the Big South All-Freshman Team.
Overall, Brown was named a Millis Scholar-Athlete, achieving a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher, in all four of her years with the Panthers. She became the third player in school history to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American at the conclusion of her senior campaign.
