Magan Smith Moves to LSU

She's a UNC gal. Her profile is posted on the WCU website:

http://catamountsports.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/smith_megan00.html

 

OK, I pick UNC. But what if I can't play at UNC? If you choose softball, you have to play where you can. The Coach leaving sounds like a lot of the elite players switching teams. It seems that when you get to that level, you can call your own shots. FREE AGENCY! Loyalty isn't a factor. Get all you can get!

One more thing, if they love softball, they deserve all they have worked for!

 

If you are set on UNC as the college EDUCATION you want to receive, but you "can't" play at UNC, then you must choose between softball & the education. You are right , if you place a priority on playing collegiate softball & it's a passion, then you must look at other schools.

I agree that "loyalty" is much less of a priority in today's society as a whole. Not only in TB, you even see it often in players switching HS's they attend (& their permanent place of residence???). Not good but is the truth.

 

What's the story @ WCU

This was posted by someone on the College Softball Forum:

Coach Smith leaving for LSU is a huge career move for her. It will be a lot easier for her to move on to a SEC or ACC head coaching position from there. She is an outstanding coach that belongs at that level, and WCU is going to regret letting her go and the way they treated her. You can't blame someone for leaving so late when the situation changes as much as it did.

Word from one of the players is that she was not looking to leave, but the situation at WCU changed from the time she got hired to the time she left. There were some major issues with administrative support for the program that caused her to even consider looking at other positions.

Anyone here have more insight. What changed at Western?

 

$$

So can it be surmised from this that the salary for an asst. at LSU is more favorable than for a head coach at WCU? And obviously it sets her up nicely for a future head coaching slot in one of the major D1 conferences.

 

LSU Web site Press Release

Megan Smith Named Softball Assistant Coach
09/12/2006



BATON ROUGE -- LSU softball head coach Yvette Girouard announced the hiring of Megan Smith as an assistant coach for the upcoming season on Monday. Smith joins the nationally ranked Tiger program from Western Carolina, where she served as the head coach for the inaugural 2006 season. She replaces Lori Osterberg, who resigned to pursue her master's degree in her home state of Iowa and move into the field of athletics administration.

"We feel extremely fortunate that Megan has joined our staff and our team," said Girouard. "She has many accomplishments and we feel like she will be an incredible addition to our staff."

As the head coach for the Catamounts last season, she guided the first year program to their first Southern Conference title, compiling a 41-20 record, including a 16-4 mark in league play. For her success, she was named the 2006 SoCon Coach of the Year.

Her team posted 81 home runs, which ranked third nationally, while WCU ranked 12th in the NCAA in slugging percentage, 19th in scoring, 38th in win-loss percentage and 50th in batting average. Additionally, three players ranked nationally statistically and two were named to the NFCA All-Southeastern Region team.

Hired in July 2004, Smith built the Western Carolina program from the ground up, spending a year and a half to build the program, including the hiring of staff and the recruitment of players, while supervising the construction of a state-of-the-art softball facility.

She was hired to head the Catamount program from the University of North Carolina, where she had also been a player. As an assistant coach for Donna Papa, she helped the Tar Heals with recruiting, fund raising, and oversaw the academic progress of student-athletes, while participating in practice planning and game management.

In 2004, she helped guide the North Carolina program to a 46-24 record, including a second place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while earning an NCAA Regional bid. In addition, she directed the Carolina Softball Camps, overseeing all aspects of the camps.
Prior to her stay at her alma mater, Smith was an assistant coach at Charlotte for the 2002 season. She worked with the infielders, pitchers and served as the hitting coach. The assistant also organized all recruiting efforts for head coach Aimee DeVoss.

For two seasons, Smith served as the head coach at Young Harris College in Georgia from 2000-2001. While there, she guided her program to a 79-41 record. Without an assistant coach, she oversaw all aspects of the team, from practice to strength training to academics to fund raising. While at Young Harris, she finished second in the regional championships twice and was one game away from the national tournament in 2001. Her team broke nearly every school record, including wins in as season with 45. In addition, in 2002, her squad ranked nationally in batting average and eight players were named to the all-regional team.

During her collegiate career at North Carolina, Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise and Sport Science and Recreation Administration. Playing third base primarily, she served as captain during her senior season and broke the school record for RBIs in a game and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 1999.

Also an exceptional student, the Walkertown, N.C., native was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference honor roll for three year and made the Dean's List twice. In 2000, she earned her Master's of Science degree in Human Performance and Sports Studies with a concentration in Sports Management from the University of Tennessee.

On June 19, 2004, she married Paul Buske, and the pair raise two cats, Sammy and Callie, and a dog, Buddy.

 

I know that the Southern Conf. is not a traditional big-time college softball league, but would seem that she would have wanted to stay around a while to reep more of the benefits of what she had sowed............ I know this gal must have worked many long grueling hours to put together this program starting from scratch; and had done so well the very first year!

 

AD problems

As discussed elsewhere, the AD at WCU and Coach Smith did not see eye to eye on the softball budget. Evidently, promises were made that are not being kept. The LSU job reportedly provides a substantial salary increase inspite of the fact that she is actually the second assistant there. Jimmy Defeo, brother of ex-UNCG coach Stephanie Defeo, is serves as the first assistant under the title of associate head coach.