MOUNT BERRY, Ga....Berry College has named Centenary College assistant coach Brianne Smedley to the post of head volleyball coach, Todd Brooks, Berry's director of athletics, announced Tuesday.
Smedley replaces Nicole McCray, who resigned in May to take a position as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia.
"What really struck me about Brianne is that she has so much enthusiasm for the job," Brooks said. "She's be an assistant for two years and is on the threshhold of starting her career as a head coach, and is very excited about this opportunity. The combination of her playing experience at Mississippi State and coaching experience over the past few years have put her in a position to become an excellent head coach and really continue to build this program.
"Brianne came very highly recommended, and we were very encouraged by what people had to say about her," Brooks continued. "We talked to Division I coaches who were very excited about her, and we talked to others that Brianne has played for, coached with or taught classes with. Everyone displayed a lot of confidence in her ability to lead a collegiate program."
The enthusiasm that Brooks spoke so highly of was evident in Smedley's comments.
"I'm so excited that Berry chose me and feels that I'm the right person to lead the program," Smedley said. "I've always wanted to be a head coach. As an assistant, I've had all these ideas and concepts in my head that I've been wanting to use, so it's exciting to have the opportunity to be a head coach and finally get to initiate all those ideas."
Smedley takes over a program that will include six freshmen and will be playing under its third coach in three seasons since returning to varsity status in 2003. Brooks served as the team's interim coach in its first varsity season in a quarter-century two years ago.
"We have a fairly young team at Berry," Smedley said. "There will be some upperclassmen, but there are also a large number of freshman coming in. My focus will be on uniting the team and getting us to a place where we function as a team. I want to be able to depend equally on our returning players and our freshmen.
"With the coaching changes in each of the past two years, I want to give the program some continuity and permanently establish Berry as a solid volleyball program. The team was successful last season, and I want to go as deep into the post-season as we possibly can."
The Lady Vikings were 22-17 overall and 8-4 in the Southern States Athletic Conference last season, advancing to the championship match of the SSAC Tournament and into the NAIA Region XIII Tournament for the first time.
Smedley has been the top assistant at NCAA Division I Centenary since May, 2004, assisting head coach Jenny Hazelwood in all facets of the program, including on-floor coaching, recruiting, scheduling, budgeting and film breakdown. She handled many of the head coaching duties at the Shreveport, La., school this spring, including running spring practice and coaching the team in a pair of spring tournaments, during Hazelwood's pregnancy.
Prior to her stint at Centenary, Smedley spent the 2003-04 academic year as an assistant coach at Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Fla., where she handled many of the same responsibilities she had at Centenary, and served as Saint Leo's interim head coach for three months.
Smedley earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education with an emphasis in Kinesiology from Mississippi State University in 2001, and a Master of Science degree in Physical Education with an emphasis in Exercise Science from MSU in 2002.
A four year starter for MSU's volleyball team from 1997-2000, Smedley was a two-time team Most Valuable Player and was named second team All-Southeastern Conference as a senior. She earned MVP honors at both the Memphis Invitational and the Air Force Invitational in 2000 and was named All-Tournament at the Mississippi State Invitational in both 1999 and 2000.
Just five years removed from her own collegiate playing days, Smedley believes her experiences as a student-athlete will benefit Berry's players.
"I'm not too far removed from being a student-athlete myself," Smedley said. "I understand the effects on your body playing at a high level can cause, and I understand the demands of the classroom on a student-athlete. I'll be able to help the players understand how to balance those kinds of things."
A competitor in the classroom, as well, Smedley was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years at Mississippi State, and earned Dean's and President's List honors and was a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society in 1999 and 2000.
"Brianne can relate well to the rigors and demands of an intercollegiate athletics schedule," Brooks said. "Berry's first priority for its student-athletes is academics. Brianne was a strong student at Mississippi State while facing the every day pressures of a student-athlete, and she has been working at Centenary College, which is also very strong academically. She'll do a good job of relating to our student-athletes that hard work is necessary, but that they can balance academics and athletics successfully."
A well-respected student-athlete at MSU, Smedley was the university's representative at the 2000 NCAA Leadership Conference, and was the volleyball team's representative on the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) in 1998, 1999 and 2000. She also served as MSU's representative on the SEC's SAAC during the same three years.
A tireless worker in the community who was honored with a community service scholarship for post-graduate study by the SEC, Smedley served as the vice-president of the M-Club, MSU's student-athlete community service group similar to Berry's Athlete's Bettering the Community (ABC) program, for two years.
Smedley is an Arlington, Texas native who played for volleyball powerhouse Arlington Martin High School. She helped lead Martin to the class 5-A state championship as a senior.
