Carl Smesko has become synonymous with his unique brand of offensive basketball on the Florida Gulf Coast over the past two decades. He prioritizes efficiency to the nth degree and coaches his players to make the best shots possible, whether it be layups, three-pointers, or anything unique from the optimal spot on the court.
The Eagles classify these baskets as “above the line” shots, or ATL.
This nickname may already be mentioned in his next work, but the concept remains the same. On Wednesday, Smesko was named the new head coach of Atlanta Dream Soccer. ATL meets “ATL.” Perhaps the preeminent offense in college basketball comes to the WNBA, as Smesko combines a historically successful system with elite athletes on the biggest stage.
“For me, it’s about finding new challenges to work with the best basketball players in the world,” she said.
Smesko, who has coached at FGCU since 2002, has long been considered one of the best college coaches in the country. His teammates named him among the top X’s and O’s practitioners and offensive game planners in The Athletic’s anonymous coaches polls the past two seasons. This year, he has the third-highest winning percentage among active coaches behind UConn’s Geno Auriemma and LSU’s Kim Mulkey. Over the last decade, only Auriemma, Mulkey and Dawn Staley have more 30-win seasons at South Carolina.
The secret has always been Smesko’s willingness to think outside the box and experiment. This has led to a radical approach to the offense that places a heavy emphasis on three-point shooting. Since 2009-10 (first-year data available through Every Hope Stats), FGCU has ranked fourth in Division I in 3-point attempt rate each season. In seven of those 15 seasons, the Eagles led DI in shot attempt percentage from beyond the arc, reaching 49.1 percent in 2021-22.
Smesko, 54, keeps notebooks of ideas, most of which, he says, he has never tried. Some of those plans may come with the Dream, who are aiming to make their third consecutive postseason appearance for the first time since 2012-14.
A running joke at FGCU was that each player was listed as a “shooter” based on their position designation instead of guard, forward or center. Smesko said the designation is a dream come true for some, but he wanted to instill the mindset that anyone can be a good shooter with the right attitude.
“One thing we know for sure is we’re going to play very efficient basketball,” Atlanta general manager Dan Padover said.
Padover and the Dreams fired Tanisha Wright after three seasons after losing in the first round of the playoffs to the New York Liberty. Ownership and management worked closely with search company Korn Ferry to find your next coach. They looked for candidates with three key traits: proven winners, innovative basketball minds and culture builders. The coach’s previous experience was also important. They assembled a group of more than 50 candidates from diverse backgrounds, and Padover said he interviewed more than 35 candidates. Negotiations between Smesko and Orzu began last week.
Smesko’s father was a high school basketball coach in Ohio and Smesko grew up interested in the profession. His focus on shooting efficiency didn’t come from his father, but he also learned the importance of fundamentals and turning away opponents with extra possessions.
Smesko’s approach began to crystallize when he was a student at Kent State in the early 1990s. He watched and read about coaches such as Bob Knight’s use of movement and screens. He realized that many teams across the country are ineffective and don’t make enough 3-pointers. In his first opportunity as head coach at Walsh University in Ohio, he made reads real and played a five-man system that places guards around the 3-point line. “The math was so simple that it was overlooked at the time,” he said.
Their system doesn’t require 3-pointers by any means, but it does require an adequate diet of 3-pointers: drives into the paint, jumpers in transition before setting up the defense, open looks in rhythm and balance. He appreciates the defensive support for shots closer to the basket, but said, “If you have the right personnel, I have no problem shooting all the threes. You just have to have the right staff for that.”
Carl Smesko has led the Middle Eagles to nine of the last 10 NCAA tournaments. (Eric Hartline/Getty Images)
Smesko inherits two players from the Dream in Ryan Howard and Allisha Gray, whose skills fit perfectly into his system. Both are volume 3-point shooters who can also score off the dribble and play at a high pace. However, they have to abandon some of the customs of recent years in Atlanta.
Despite having two All-Stars, Atlanta had the lowest scoring offense and lowest field goal percentage in the WNBA. Ninth dream at league level of 3 points; They have never reached 30 percent in their franchise history. They were last in pace and Howard made 19.3 percent of his mid-range shots (87 total). As a team, FGCU had 30 attempts throughout the 2023-24 season.
“We have to play to their strengths and put them in optimal positions to achieve our greatness,” Smesko said of Howard and Gray.
He has constant experience in improving the performance of various types of players. Former first-round pick and Las Vegas Aces winger Kierstan Bell came to FGCU in 2020 after one season at Ohio State, and his effective field goal percentage jumped from 48.3 to 60.2. Smaller guards like Kendall Spray and Alizeh Winston, who thought they needed mid-range jumpers, saw the light with the Eagles. To continue developing the dream, players need to start looking at the way Smesko plays.
There will be adjustments needed from the NCAA to the WNBA, including the speed of play. However, Smesko already typically watches movies 10 to 20 percent faster than live, so the game action feels slower and he can make quicker decisions. It must also accommodate the difference in judgment between the two levels. Smesko’s teams thrive on freedom of movement, and even players who don’t become takedown shooters do their part by opening up the floor with cuts and slides. If that off-ball movement is interrupted by possession and physicality that is not called for fouls, the flow of the offense changes.
After agreeing to a multi-year contract, Smesko joins the WNBA amid an explosion of interest and finances. However, WNBA coaches have never faced so much volatility, and some in the league point to high stakes as the main reason for so many coaching changes. Seven franchises changed head coaches last season and six left after no more than two seasons. He’s leaving the program he built since childhood (he was FGCU’s first women’s basketball coach) for a more nuanced position.
There are no recent comparisons for Smesko’s jump. A WNBA franchise has not hired a coach without NBA, G League or prior WNBA experience (player, assistant or head coach) since Sky hired Poky Chatman in 2011 from Spartak Moscow after his time at LSU . Padover said the only recent WNBA coach whose resume resembles Smesko’s is Kurt Miller, who coached Bowling Green for more than a decade and worked in Indiana and as an assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks before being hired by the Connecticut Sun. . 2016.
“There’s no better time for a coach to come into the league than now,” Padover said. “In the first year, there will be (eight) head coaches with their team. “I think someone with head coaching experience at any level will have a big advantage now.”
Smesko’s philosophy is based on finding advantages. He knows he has a lot to learn, but he believes in Orzu’s potential.
“Anyone coming into a new league is going to have a learning curve,” Padover said. “But someone as smart as Carl, as adaptable as Carl, will figure it out.”
(Photo by Carl Smesko: Greg Fiume/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
