Women's Basketball Coaching Staff
Last Game
Grambling
Nov 20, 2024
Berkeley, CA
Next Game
Auburn
Nov 22, 6:00pm
Berkeley, CA
Charmin Smith
Head Coach
A mainstay on the Golden Bear bench for over a decade, Charmin Smith was named head coach of the Cal women’s basketball team on June 21, 2019.
Smith becomes the 10th head coach in Cal women’s basketball history after spending the last 12 seasons as an assistant on the Golden Bear staff, including serving as the program’s associate head coach since 2012. Cal has had ten 20-win seasons and made nine trips to the NCAA Tournament since Smith’s arrival in Berkeley in 2007, highlighted by the program’s first trip to the Final Four in 2013.
Highly-regarded throughout the coaching ranks at both the collegiate and professional levels, Smith has played a key role in building Cal into one of the premier programs on the West Coast, handling duties from recruiting and scheduling, to alumni engagement and campus equity and inclusion. She has served on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors and was hired in April 2019 to serve as an assistant coach for the WNBA’s New York Liberty.
On the hardwood, Smith has helped coach the Bears to the top three individual seasons in program history. In her first two years in Berkeley, Cal set then-school records for wins in a season, finishing both years with 27-7 marks before Cal pushed itself into elite status with the record-breaking 32-4 Final Four campaign in 2012-13. The Bears also recorded their best Pac-12 record (17-1) and won their first conference regular-season crown that season. Smith has helped lead the Bears to the postseason in 11 of her 12 seasons and was also part of the staff that led the Bears to the 2010 WNIT championship.
Heidi Heinz
Associate Head Coach
Heidi Heintz joined the women's basketball coaching staff prior to the 2022-23 season. Named to the 2019 WBCA Thirty Under 30, Heintz comes to Cal with a wealth of coaching and playing experience at Division I and professional levels.
Heintz joined Bear Territory after spending the 2019-22 seasons at Saint Mary's where she was the assistant coach for head coach Paul Thomas.While in Moraga, Heintz helped lead the Gaels to an impressive turnaround in her three seasons, culminating with a WBI Championship in 2021-22. During SMC's postseason run the Gaels won six of their last eight, including three straight over three days in Lexington, Kentucky to capture the program's first postseason championship.
Prior to her time at SMC, Heintz had a successful stint at UC San Diego. As an assistant coach with the Tritons from 2015-19 UCSD went 107-18, winning the CCAA title all four years while advancing to the NCAA Tournament. In her last year in La Jolla, the Toreros went 30-1 overall and advanced to the NCAA Division II West Regional. Heintz primarily was influential in the development of All-American forwards Farrah Shokoor and Dalayna Sampton, as well as all-conference selection Mikayla Williams
Before her time with the Tritons, Heintz spent a year as the Director of Basketball Operations and Video Coordinator with her alma mater, UC Davis. The season prior, she served as the junior varsity basketball coach at Ballard High School in Seattle while simultaneously coaching an AAU Youth Academy team at Hoopaholics Academy.
An accomplished player before becoming a coach, Heintz played professionally abroad for two seasons in Europe for the ChemCats in Chemnitz, Germany in 2012-13 and the Forssan Alku Club in Finland the year before, in 2011-12.
In college, Heintz played two seasons at UC Davis, where she was a Big West All-Academic, Big West All-Tournament Team member, and a two-time Second Team All-Big West Conference honoree. She began her collegiate career playing at the University of San Francisco for two seasons from 2006-08, where she garnered West Coast Conference All-Freshman Team honors and the team's Defensive Player of the Year Award as a sophomore.
Travon Bryant
Assistant Coach
Travon Bryant is in his first season with the Cal women's basketball team after joining the program in September 2023. Bryant comes to the Golden Bears with over eight years of coaching experience at the NBA and G-League level and has personally worked with perennial NBA All-Stars such as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. At Cal, he is responsible for post-player development, defensive game planning and recruiting efforts.
Bryant came to Cal after having recently served as an assistant coach with the Raptors 905 during the 2021-22 season, where he was responsible for leading the development of the team’s defensive scheme. His efforts resulted in the team earning the G-League’s top defensive rating that year. Before that, he spent the 2020-21 season with the Detroit Pistons, where he led player development for the team’s front-court players and helped then-rookie Isaiah Stewart earn an NBA Second-Team All-Rookie recognition.
Prior to the Pistons, Bryant served as an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets from 2017-20, focusing on the team’s offseason training program, front-court player development, advanced scouting and helping with players returning from injury. He also spent time as an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2015-17, where his duties included player development, game and practice video analysis and playoff scouting.
Bryant was also one of three NBA coaches invited to be a USA Jr. National Basketball training camp coach in 2019 where he worked with players such as Walker Kessler, Jalen Duren and Jarace Walker. He has also spent the last seven years consulting with various AAU teams on the West Coast.
Bryant was a four-year letter winner at the University of Missouri (2000-04), where he started 81 games for the Tigers and was part of three NCAA Tournament runs - including an appearance in the Elite Eight in 2002.
Jenny Huth
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Jenny Huth is entering her first season with the California women’s basketball program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Huth came to the Golden Bears with over 15 years of coaching women’s basketball at the Division I level.
Huth joined Cal after having recently served as an associate coach of player development at Kentucky. With the Wildcats, she focused on developing the guard position and oversaw the development of several players who experienced significant improvements under her guidance including Saniah Tyler, who went from 0.7 points per game in 2022-23 to 10.1 points per game this past season, and Maddie Scherr, who went from 3.7 points per game in 2022-23 to 13.6 points per game in 2023-24.
Prior to Kentucky, Huth was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon State from 2021-23 when she coached four All-Pac-12 players including 2022-23 Pac-12 Freshman and Sixth Woman of the Year Raegan Beers. She also aided in the recruitment of Donovyn Hunter, ranked #82 in the country by ESPN Hoop Gurlz in the 2023 class, and Kennedie Shuler, ranked as the #115 player in the nation by Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.
From 2018-21, Huth served as the head coach at the University of Northern Colorado where she led the Bears to a second-place finish in the Big Sky Conference in 2018-19 and coached seven All-Big Sky players including 2021 unanimous conference MVP Alisha Davis. During her tenure, the program saw a 100% graduation rate and fielded 17 All-Big Sky scholar-athletes.
Before taking the helm at Northern Colorado, Huth was an assistant coach at UCLA from 2011-18 when she planned and oversaw player development, recruiting and assisted with opponent scouting and game planning. During her time with the Bruins, Huth was part of four NCAA Tournament runs including three straight Sweet 16 appearances (2016, 17, 18) and a trip to the Elite 8 in 2018. There she helped develop eventual WNBA draft picks Jordin Canada and Nirra Fields and assisted in the recruitment of four highly ranked classes (2012 - #12, 2014 - #1, 2015 - #9, 2017 - #7).
Huth also served on the coaching staffs at Florida State, Oakland University and Stoney Creek High School.
Huth played at Colorado (1998-2002) where she was a three-year starter and All Big-XII selection and was a key member of the teams that reached the NCAA Tournament Elite 8 in 2002 and second round in 2001.
Eliza Pierre
Assistant Coach
Not long ago, Eliza Pierre was on the floor at Haas Pavilion, setting records for steals and games played and leading the Golden Bears to their first Final Four appearance in 2013. Now, after four years of coaching at UC Santa Barbara, Pierre is back in Berkeley as a part of head coach Charmin’s Smith’s coaching staff, rejoining the Bears in June 2021.
At Cal, Pierre was a 4-time Pac-10/12 All-Defensive Team honoree from 2009-2013 and earned the team’s defensive most valuable player award after the ’09-’10 season. She played in seven NCAA Tournament games between 2012 and 2013 including 21 minutes in the Bears’ Final Four game against Louisville in New Orleans in 2013. Pierre still holds the fifth-most career steals in program history (243), the sixth-most in a single season (90) and her 140 games played are ranked fourth overall.
After a one-year sports management fellowship at the Pac-12 Conference office, Pierre joined the women’s basketball staff at Cal as the assistant director of basketball operations intern for the 2016-17 season. By the end of the year, she was promoted to interim assistant coach which ultimately launched her coaching career. Pierre spent the next four seasons as an assistant coach at UCSB where the Gauchos collected 41 wins, reached the Big West Tournament semifinals in 2020 (before the remainder of the tournament was canceled) and then the quarterfinals in 2021. She also guided nine players to all-conference honors.
A native of Pasadena, California, Pierre was a McDonald's All-American at John Muir High School where she was also named Second Team All-State, 2009 Player of the Year and 2009 Athlete of the Year in the San Gabriel Valley. She was also the No. 3-rated point guard by ESPN HoopGurlz her senior season and No. 22 overall. Pierre led John Muir High to four Pacific League championships and also ran two years of track.