Burlington coach Smith leaving for NIU
Stephanie Smith has never made it a secret that her dream is to become a women’s college basketball coach.
Now she’ll have the opportunity to take the first step in achieving that goal.
Smith resigned Wednesday as Burlington Central’s girls basketball coach to accept a graduate assistant position on Kathi Bennett’s staff at Northern Illinois University.
“It’s a win-win opportunity for me that I’ve been waiting for during the eight years I’ve coached high school basketball,” Smith said. “I wasn’t planning on it. It all came up real fast.”
Smith was 28-28 in her two seasons on Rocket Hill, including 11-17 this past season with a very young team. She was previously an assistant coach at several other area schools, including South Elgin.
“In her two seasons here, Coach Smith has developed a solid foundation and helped increase the competitive nature in the Central community,” said BC athletic director Steve Gertz in a news release.
Smith said the decision to leave Central didn’t come without some emotion.
“It wasn’t easy,” said Smith, a Hampshire graduate and former Daily Herald All-Area captain who also played four years at NIU.
“It’s going to be hard to leave such a great group of girls. But I want to coach basketball 12 months a year and I want to go out and recruit. It’s what I want to do and what I have a passion for. And with this opportunity, I’ll also be able to do my graduate work.”
Smith said her two years at Burlington were a valuable learning experience and that she intends to be around the Rockets’ summer programs until a new coach is hired.
“I appreciate what Central did for me,” she said. “The kids are awesome and the administration was great. It helped me grow as a coach. I’ll still be around in the summer helping the kids until they find a new coach.”
Gertz said Central graduate Jenna Real, another former Daily Herald All-Area captain who played at Loyola University and is currently Central’s sophomore coach, along with assistant Darnell Coleman will run the Rockets’ summer programs until a new coach is announced.