La Salle University announced the hiring of their new head coach last week. The Explorers have tabbed former Stony Brook head women’s swimming & diving coach Kerry Smith to lead their men’s and women’s programs in the 2021-2022 season.
The hire makes Smith one of the few female head coaches of a combined (men’s & women’s) NCAA DI swimming & diving team. In recent years, the NCAA has faced criticism for the lack of female head coaches at the NCAA DI level, despite there being far more Division I women’s swimming & diving programs than such men’s programs.
Join us in welcoming our new head coach to 20th & Olney, Kerry Smith! She joins the Explorers after three impressive seasons as head women's swimming & diving coach at Stony Brook!
✍️: https://t.co/iC70gbe2Hl pic.twitter.com/PkgYWkVS4z
— La Salle U Swimming (@LaSalleUSwim) July 29, 2021
La Salle had a turbulent season last year, having cut the men’s swimming & diving program in the fall, then announcing in March of this year that the program would be reinstated. This means Smith has her work with the men’s team cut out for her, because even though the men’s program was never really out of existence, the announcement of the impending cut cause the team to lose some of it’s swimmers, and paused their ability to recruit. Coming into this season La Salle is showing 17 athletes on their men’s S&D roster, which is down from 25 athletes on the 2019-2020 roster.
Smith, who is a Pennsylvania native, spent the last 3 seasons at the helm of the Stony Brook team, giving her NCAA DI head coaching experience. During her tenure with Stony Brook, she produced an America East champion and nearly doubled their team score at the America East Championships from 2019 (185) to 2021 (350).
Smith has served on coaching staffs at several NCAA programs. Prior to Stony Brook, she spent 3 seasons as an assistant coach at Yale. During Smith’s time there, the Yale women’s team had back-to-back undefeated dual meet season, and won their first Ivy League team title in 2 decades.
Before Yale, Smith spent 2 seasons at Virginia, working primarily with middle-distance swimmers. Smith was at Virginia for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons. During the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons, Smith was coaching at Wingate University (DII). While there, Smith coached sprinters and middle-distance swimmers. Swim also coached at Truman State (DII), which was her first NCAA coaching position.
Speaking on the hire, Smith said “Coming home to Philadelphia and coaching at a pool that was host to my first of many championships is a special honor for me.” She added that ” I’m excited to see how high we can soar as a men’s and women’s program! Go Explorers!”
Smith swam collegiately at Penn State from 2005-2008.
Great news for my alma mater! Go Explorers!! #explorersareneverlost
So happy for you, Kerry! LaSalle will be an addition to the list of schools we encourage our athletes to consider. Congratulations!
So existed for Kerry and LaSalle. It’s gonna be awesome.
Congratulations Kerry!
Congratulations Kerry! Nothing like being back home!