HEAD COACH MIA SMITH

In 2023-24, Mia Smith is in her 26th season as head women’s basketball coach at Illinois Wesleyan University.

The all-time victories leader for women’s basketball at Illinois Wesleyan, Smith led her team to the NCAA Division III championship in the 2011-12 campaign, was chosen as the 2012 RUSSELL ATHLETIC/Women's Basketball Coaches Association "National Coach of the Year" for Division III and was named the 2012 Schelde North America/Women's DIII News "Coach of the Year".

In 2018, Smith was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a coach, and the 2012 national championship squad was inducted in the "Team" category.

In her 25 seasons, Smith has coached the Titans to a record of 474-201 (.702 winning percentage) and a 271-98 record (.734 percentage) in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin record with nine conference championships (2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2022). She has also coached teams into the NCAA Division III tournament 12 times (2002, six straight from 2007-12, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022) with the championship in 2012 and a fourth place national finish in 2011.

Smith has been the CCIW’s “Coach of the Year” six times (2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 2016, 2018), has been the region seven winner of the Russell Athletic/WBCA Regional Coach of the Year honor in 2009, 2010 and 2012 and was the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Division III “Coach of the Year” in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

Smith has coached 11 All-Americans (Claire Sheehan and Christina Solari in 2009; Christina Solari; Hope Schulte in 2010; Olivia Lett in 2012; Molly McGraw in 2017 and 2018; Rebekah Ehresman in 2018; Maddie Merritt in 2019, Kendall Sosa in 2020 & 2021), 62 all-conference selections and six league “Most Outstanding Players” (Katie Cantrell, 2003; Heidi Harnisch, 2006; Christina Solari, 2009; Olivia Lett, 2012; Rebekah Ehresman, 2018; Kendall Sosa, 2021). Lett was also named as the 2012 D3hoops.com “Player of the Year” and Sosa was the WBCA & D3hoops.com Player of the Year in 2021.

Prior to coming to IWU in 1998, Smith coached (since 1994) volleyball and softball at Division III Monmouth College (Illinois), where her volleyball teams were 55-69 in four seasons and her softball teams were 61-54.

Smith coached basketball and two other sports at Carrollton High School in west central Illinois from 1986 to 1994. Her basketball mark was 156-55 with three consecutive regional and sectional titles and she was twice named IBCA regional “Coach of the Year.” Her 1992 team finished 28-3 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class A state tournament, and her 1993 and 1994 teams both lost in the super-sectional round. In volleyball, Smith’s Carrollton teams were 127-69 with five straight regional titles and her softball teams were 97-54 with three regional championships and two league championships.

A native of Farina, Ill., and graduate of LaGrove High School, Smith earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where she was a four-year letterwinner in basketball and softball. She was the basketball team captain for three seasons and earned “Defensive Player of the Year” honors four times. She was named to the 1983 Dial Classic all-tournament team. A Dean’s List student, she was an SIUE “Scholar-Athlete” and the school’s “Sportsmanship Award” winner in 1986.

Smith also teaches classes in the IWU physical education department.