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Cal Women's Basketball

Charmin Smith Signs Contract Extension

April 4, 2024
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BERKELEY - California women’s basketball head coach Charmin Smith has signed a three-year contract extension, Cal Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton announced Thursday. Smith, who recently completed her fifth year as head coach, is now signed through the 2028-29 season.

“We are excited to extend Charmin’s contract as we generate momentum with our move to the ACC,” Knowlton said. “Charmin took our team to a new level this season, and I’m excited about the direction of our program under her leadership. Charmin understands and embraces everything it takes to thrive as a Cal student-athlete, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for our team.”

Smith had her best year at the helm in 2023-24 as the Golden Bears won their most overall (19) and conference (seven) games since the 2018-19 season. Smith also guided Cal into the postseason for the first time since 2018-19 as the Bears earned an at-large bid and a No. 2 seed in this year’s inaugural NCAA Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. Under Smith’s guidance this season, the team also had its first weekend home and road sweeps of Pac-12 schools (both against Washington and Washington State) since 2018-19, swept Oregon for the first time since 2012-13 and set a program record for 3-pointers (282) in a season. The season sweeps of Oregon, Washington and Washington State mark the first time Cal has swept three different Pac-12 schools since 2017-18. The Bears also advanced to the quarterfinals of this year’s Pac-12 Tournament for the first time since 2019-20. Smith was named ESPN’s Coach of the Week on Jan. 8.

Next season, Smith will welcome a Top 25 (ESPN) recruiting class that features two ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 players in Kamryn Mafua (54) and Zahra King (76) along with recently named Gatorade and MaxPreps Hawaii State Player of the Year Lola Donez.

“Cal is where I want to be and I’m thrilled that Jim and our university are committed to me leading this team into the ACC,” Smith said. “We accomplished a lot of great things this season and have momentum moving into next year during the most exciting time in women’s basketball. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and I'm looking forward to taking the next steps with this special staff and the talent we are fortunate to coach."

Charmin Smith Signs Contract Extension

14,214 Views | 70 Replies | Last: 8 mo ago by TheDuke!!!
socaliganbear
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Predictably, mediocrity is rewarded.
Shocky1
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"Sherman Smith Signs Contract Extension"
https://bearinsider.com/s/4037/sherman-smith-signs-contract-extension/4

incompetent bureaucrats led by jim knolwton that want u to donate money to pay for their salaries, good luck to sherman

https://instagr.am/p/C5UECbfvBXv
markeisha gotta get PAID#
philbert
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Sherman?
sonofabear51
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***? Sherman?

C'mon editors, get your s@#$ together and proofread before posting!

Sheeeesh!
Start Slowly and taper off
TheDuke!!!
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socaliganbear said:

Predictably, mediocrity is rewarded.
At 56 - 80 (.412), Charmin Smith is a long way from mediocre.

This is the worst thing to happen to Cal since the Wilcox extension.
dha
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Coach Smith's team had a better winning record this year than either the Mens FB or BB teams. While playing in perhaps the most competitive women's basketball conference in the nation. She has put together a solid recruiting class for next season, which certainly is a better position than the Bears find themselves in with the Men"s basketball team. She is an excellent role model for young student athletes given her success playing at the college level and pros and having two college degrees. The program is headed in the right direction. Let's hope Coach Smith can continue to build on this progress as we move into the ACC.
annarborbear
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dha said:

Coach Smith's team had a better winning record this year than either the Mens FB or BB teams. While playing in perhaps the most competitive women's basketball conference in the nation. She has put together a solid recruiting class for next season, which certainly is a better position than the Bears find themselves in with the Men"s basketball team. She is an excellent role model for young student athletes given her success playing at the college level and pros and having two college degrees. The program is headed in the right direction. Let's hope Coach Smith can continue to build on this progress as we move into the ACC.
You have perfectly summed up the Knowlton era, with non-performance-based long-term contract extensions for everybody.

BearBorn11
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dha said:

Coach Smith's team had a better winning record this year than either the Mens FB or BB teams. While playing in perhaps the most competitive women's basketball conference in the nation. She has put together a solid recruiting class for next season, which certainly is a better position than the Bears find themselves in with the Men"s basketball team. She is an excellent role model for young student athletes given her success playing at the college level and pros and having two college degrees. The program is headed in the right direction. Let's hope Coach Smith can continue to build on this progress as we move into the ACC.
She has a career 17-62 record in league play and has never beaten a ranked opponent. Her best conference finish in 5 years is 8th. And this is AFTER she inherited a program that had gone to the NCAA tournament in 7 of the prior 8 years before her arrival.

Charmin Smith STINKS. She's a really bad basketball coach who has had plenty of time to figure it out. The product has been unwatchable and while she's been at the helm, Cal WBB has been surpassed in the league by multiple programs it dominated in the not too distant past.

This is a horrible extension and proof that Knowlton is one of the worst AD's in the country.
BarcaBear
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BearBorn11 said:

dha said:

Coach Smith's team had a better winning record this year than either the Mens FB or BB teams. While playing in perhaps the most competitive women's basketball conference in the nation. She has put together a solid recruiting class for next season, which certainly is a better position than the Bears find themselves in with the Men"s basketball team. She is an excellent role model for young student athletes given her success playing at the college level and pros and having two college degrees. The program is headed in the right direction. Let's hope Coach Smith can continue to build on this progress as we move into the ACC.
She has a career 17-62 record in league play and has never beaten a ranked opponent. Her best conference finish in 5 years is 8th. And this is AFTER she inherited a program that had gone to the NCAA tournament in 7 of the prior 8 years before her arrival.

Charmin Smith STINKS. She's a really bad basketball coach who has had plenty of time to figure it out. The product has been unwatchable and while she's been at the helm, Cal WBB has been surpassed in the league by multiple programs it dominated in the not too distant past.

This is a horrible extension and proof that Knowlton is one of the worst AD's in the country.
i try to be a bit more optimistic. I don't think its scheming problem, I think it was a dropoff in recruiting and that covid hit at the end of the first season. we need someone on staff that is good with recruiting to replace Lindsay Gottlieb's recruiting talent.

Charmin has shown a positive trend in what was the #1 conference for womens basketball. Pac-12 was ranked 1st in RPI. We are going into the ACC, and the ACC was ranked 5th in RPI. Next year Stanford will win the ACC and Cal should be middle of the pack.
CarryHarry
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Help me understand how the cal ad can extend smith for FIVE years?
socaliganbear
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5 more years of incredibly cringe social media videos.
TedfordTheGreat
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BarcaBear said:

BearBorn11 said:

dha said:

Coach Smith's team had a better winning record this year than either the Mens FB or BB teams. While playing in perhaps the most competitive women's basketball conference in the nation. She has put together a solid recruiting class for next season, which certainly is a better position than the Bears find themselves in with the Men"s basketball team. She is an excellent role model for young student athletes given her success playing at the college level and pros and having two college degrees. The program is headed in the right direction. Let's hope Coach Smith can continue to build on this progress as we move into the ACC.
She has a career 17-62 record in league play and has never beaten a ranked opponent. Her best conference finish in 5 years is 8th. And this is AFTER she inherited a program that had gone to the NCAA tournament in 7 of the prior 8 years before her arrival.

Charmin Smith STINKS. She's a really bad basketball coach who has had plenty of time to figure it out. The product has been unwatchable and while she's been at the helm, Cal WBB has been surpassed in the league by multiple programs it dominated in the not too distant past.

This is a horrible extension and proof that Knowlton is one of the worst AD's in the country.
i try to be a bit more optimistic. I don't think its scheming problem, I think it was a dropoff in recruiting and that covid hit at the end of the first season. we need someone on staff that is good with recruiting to replace Lindsay Gottlieb's recruiting talent.

Charmin has shown a positive trend in what was the #1 conference for womens basketball. Pac-12 was ranked 1st in RPI. We are going into the ACC, and the ACC was ranked 5th in RPI. Next year Stanford will win the ACC and Cal should be middle of the pack.
so root for weaker opponents and we will look better. Got it. How does that work when the year end result is a national tournament where every conference participates. How does that get us closer to the sweet 16, final four?
SFCALBear72
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socaliganbear said:

5 more years of incredibly cringe social media videos.
Not sure exactly what that means.

You do have an option of not watching them, you know.
Schroeder71
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What's the highest finish for Charmin Smith in the Pac 12? Probably this season at #8 out of dozen. How she can be rewarded for the worst performance that I have ever witnessed is beyond my comprehension. Cal is supposed to represent excellence. Has CS represented excellence for women's basketball? LOL
wvitbear
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I think it is for three years.

I thought according to AnnHarborbear tht we weren't going to talk about this anymore and wait and see how she does.

By the way, in 2020 season, no one played in the NCAA tourney as there wasn't one because of Covid. And there was a bunch of games cancelled because of Covid in the next season too. Hard to recruit when you can't get in the gym. So these seasons are tainted.

The Bay area was particularly hit hard with restrictions. Some of you who complain the loudest didn't attend any games.
annarborbear
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wvitbear said:

I think it is for three years.

I thought according to AnnHarborbear tht we weren't going to talk about this anymore and wait and see how she does.

By the way, in 2020 season, no one played in the NCAA tourney as there wasn't one because of Covid. And there was a bunch of games cancelled because of Covid in the next season too. Hard to recruit when you can't get in the gym. So these seasons are tainted.

The Bay area was particularly hit hard with restrictions. Some of you who complain the loudest didn't attend any games.
The reason we are now talking about this is because we are no longer having a further two-year period to prove herself, we are now talking about a guaranteed job until 2029 no matter how she does. And this after the worst record of all but one women's basketball coach in Cal history.
Ashfield63
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WOW, so much for being hopeful. Where have all of you negative Bears been???

It sounds like senior citizen Hum Bug, but much worse. Some comments are down right

disrespectful to another human being. The downfall of the Pac-12 is depressing for sure,

but to discredit a genuine competent woman is something else. Some comments are an embarrassment

to the BEAR community who support the WBB program.

It's a great day of Women's Collegiate Basketball, The Final Four. Let's celebrate how far we have come!!

I am sure Charmin is in Cleveland, participating in NCAA Coaches meetings and activities and hopefully, not reading this disparaging page. She represents UCB with intelligence and dignity.
GGV
annarborbear
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It is not just that we lost to the seven teams above us. We suffered double-digit losses in all but one of those games. Here were the scoring margins:

Stanford - 27, 35, 14
Utah - 37
UCLA - 20
USC - 10
Arizona - 12, 19
Colorado 15
OSU - 7, 13

The only close game was against OSU. And after Beers came back from a first half injury in that one, they blew us out by 31-17 in the fourth quarter.

We were also one of only two conference teams that lowly Arizona State was able to beat.

So, yes, after those results, a coach hardly deserves a long-term guaranteed contract extension.
SFCALBear72
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And then you have Colorado coach, JR Payne.

She took her team as far as Albany in the NCAA Tournament where they lost to Iowa.

24-10 overall
Ranked
11-7 Pac-12.

Sounds ideal, right?

Yet, 4 out of the 5 players from her 2023 class have entered the portal.
She had 17 players on her roster this past season.

11 of those players will be moving on counting transfers and graduates.
Winning doesn't necessarily mean stability.
Rtkbear
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Does anyone know what the buyout is under her contract? if it is 5 years, then that's pretty bad. If it's two years, then the extension is more for appearances than anything else.
annarborbear
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SFCALBear72 said:

And then you have Colorado coach, JR Payne.

She took her team as far as Albany in the NCAA Tournament where they lost to Iowa.

24-10 overall
Ranked
11-7 Pac-12.

Sounds ideal, right?

Yet, 4 out of the 5 players from her 2023 class have entered the portal.
She had 17 players on her roster this past season.

11 of those players will be moving on counting transfers and graduates.
Winning doesn't necessarily mean stability.
Has Payne been offered a contract extension until 2029? She seems to deserve one. She has brought in some excellent transfers in Miller, Vonleh, Nolan and Sadler. With current transfers out, she has roster slots to fill for next year, and will likely sign some good portal transfers. She also has two ESPN top 100 freshmen coming in next year. After two straight Sweet Sixteens, Colorado is probably pretty happy with her performance,

The combined total output of all five players in the portal from Colorado was 5.3 ppg. 3.6 rpg and 0.5 assists/ game. Portal recruits now make much more predictable contributions than freshman classes.
dha
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Colorado has been a good job in the portal. But that takes money! They no doubt have a bigger budget than Cal and are spending big bucks across FF and BB. It is hard to imagine Cal competing at the top level of the ACC in FB, Men/Women BB, without more financial backing. Which does not seem likely given the revenue shortfall we are facing from the move to the ACC for the first seven years. Coach Smith at east has Cal pointed int he right direction. But let's not expect to compete at the top of the league without more financial support.
TheFiatLux
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Ashfield63 said:

WOW, so much for being hopeful. Where have all of you negative Bears been???

It sounds like senior citizen Hum Bug, but much worse. Some comments are down right

disrespectful to another human being. The downfall of the Pac-12 is depressing for sure,

but to discredit a genuine competent woman is something else. Some comments are an embarrassment

to the BEAR community who support the WBB program.

It's a great day of Women's Collegiate Basketball, The Final Four. Let's celebrate how far we have come!!

I am sure Charmin is in Cleveland, participating in NCAA Coaches meetings and activities and hopefully, not reading this disparaging page. She represents UCB with intelligence and dignity.
I honestly can't figure out this post.

"but to discredit a genuine competent woman is something else."

What exactly is your definition or bar to prove you're competent at what you do? Do wins and losses not matter to you? Woman or man, her record is singularly unimpressive.

"I am sure Charmin is in Cleveland, participating in NCAA Coaches meetings"

I'd much rather our coaches be at the tournament participating in actual games instead of coaches meetings... But that's just me...

"Some comments are an embarrassment to the BEAR community who support the WBB program."

Yes, some comments are embarrassing... if you know what I mean.

SFCALBear72
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"I am sure Charmin is in Cleveland, participating in NCAA Coaches meetings"

I'd much rather our coaches be at the tournament participating in actual games instead of coaches meetings... But that's just me...


Fyi. Cleveland is the site of the WBB Final Four starting tonight. Traditionally, WBB coaches hold their annual convention at the Final Four. Good time to talk to other coaches about future match-ups, etc. For Charmin, she'll be able to connect with her new ACC colleagues.

So, technically Charmin is at the tournament and will be watching "actual games". Clear enough for you?
Big C
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Obviously the Charmin Smith teams haven't won as much as we all would like to see.

However, we were improved this past season, plus it looks like recruiting has taken an uptick(?).

So the question is, will the improvement continue? Because if so, good extension! If not, not so good. And I don't have a good feel for what the answer to the question is.
SFCALBear72
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Big C said:


Obviously the Charmin Smith teams haven't won as much as we all would like to see.

However, we were improved this past season, plus it looks like recruiting has taken an uptick(?).

So the question is, will the improvement continue? Because if so, good extension! If not, not so good. And I don't have a good feel for what the answer to the question is.
Expect at least two more players coming in from the portal. Point guard and post player/or forward.
TheFiatLux
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SFCALBear72 said:

"I am sure Charmin is in Cleveland, participating in NCAA Coaches meetings"

I'd much rather our coaches be at the tournament participating in actual games instead of coaches meetings... But that's just me...


Fyi. Cleveland is the site of the WBB Final Four starting tonight. Traditionally, WBB coaches hold their annual convention at the Final Four. Good time to talk to other coaches about future match-ups, etc. For Charmin, she'll be able to connect with her new ACC colleagues.

So, technically Charmin is at the tournament and will be watching "actual games". Clear enough for you?
Let me try this again... I understand the machinations of the tournament... I would rather our coach be coaching games in the tournament than watching games... is that clear enough for you?
SFCALBear72
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TheFiatLux said:

SFCALBear72 said:

"I am sure Charmin is in Cleveland, participating in NCAA Coaches meetings"

I'd much rather our coaches be at the tournament participating in actual games instead of coaches meetings... But that's just me...


Fyi. Cleveland is the site of the WBB Final Four starting tonight. Traditionally, WBB coaches hold their annual convention at the Final Four. Good time to talk to other coaches about future match-ups, etc. For Charmin, she'll be able to connect with her new ACC colleagues.

So, technically Charmin is at the tournament and will be watching "actual games". Clear enough for you?
Let me try this again... I understand the machinations of the tournament... I would rather our coach be coaching games in the tournament than watching games... is that clear enough for you?
Look at you using your college thesaurus.

Wouldn't we all. I support this team every way possible. I too have higher expectations but also understand the process and what might impede it. Onward and upward.
annarborbear
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annarborbear
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I have wondered for some time if Carol Christ has an unannounced strategy of moving us down to the level of a UC Davis type program, believing that we should not participate in the growing professionalism of college sports and that we would never have the level of resources needed to compete. That is the only reason that I can see for Knowlton's own contract extension and for his subsequent extension of coaching contracts with no related requirements to perform. I wouldn't mind that move down as an ultimate goal. But, if true,, she is really alienating a lot of fans and donors along the way with this unannounced approach.
Alkiadt
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Ashfield63 said:

WOW, so much for being hopeful. Where have all of you negative Bears been???

It sounds like senior citizen Hum Bug, but much worse. Some comments are down right

disrespectful to another human being. The downfall of the Pac-12 is depressing for sure,

but to discredit a genuine competent woman is something else. Some comments are an embarrassment

to the BEAR community who support the WBB program.

It's a great day of Women's Collegiate Basketball, The Final Four. Let's celebrate how far we have come!!

I am sure Charmin is in Cleveland, participating in NCAA Coaches meetings and activities and hopefully, not reading this disparaging page. She represents UCB with intelligence and dignity.


She's not a winner. That's the bottom line in this business and for what she makes financially. So she does good things in the community. So what? Lots of people do that. I've attended women's hoop games on and off. No more. This was a terrible decision. She'll get her hat handed to her from Tara in the ACC just like she did in the Pac….
stu
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annarborbear said:

I have wondered for some time if Carol Christ has an unannounced strategy of moving us down to the level of a UC Davis type program, believing that we should not participate in the growing professionalism of college sports and that we would never have the level of resources needed to compete. That is the only reason that I can see for Knowlton's own contract extension and for his subsequent extension of coaching contracts with no related requirements to perform. I wouldn't mind that move down as an ultimate goal. But, if true,, she is really alienating a lot of fans and donors along the way with this unannounced approach.
I follow Cal basketball because I like the game and I graduated from Cal. I admire Charmin for recruiting students who get good grades and graduate. But if power conferences devolve to paid players changing schools every year I won't care anymore. My preference would be to form a conference of California schools which would expect players to be interested in school and stay through graduation, kind of a West Coast Ivy league without the ivy. Maybe Cal, Stanford, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and Cal Poly SLO.
annarborbear
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stu said:

annarborbear said:

I have wondered for some time if Carol Christ has an unannounced strategy of moving us down to the level of a UC Davis type program, believing that we should not participate in the growing professionalism of college sports and that we would never have the level of resources needed to compete. That is the only reason that I can see for Knowlton's own contract extension and for his subsequent extension of coaching contracts with no related requirements to perform. I wouldn't mind that move down as an ultimate goal. But, if true,, she is really alienating a lot of fans and donors along the way with this unannounced approach.
I follow Cal basketball because I like the game and I graduated from Cal. I admire Charmin for recruiting students who get good grades and graduate. But if power conferences devolve to paid players changing schools every year I won't care anymore. My preference would be to form a conference of California schools which would expect players to be interested in school and stay through graduation, kind of a West Coast Ivy league without the ivy. Maybe Cal, Stanford, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and Cal Poly SLO.



That seems like the logical outcome. Maybe it could be done at least for everything except football and possibly men's basketball. A coach like Charmin could be there and revered for 30 years with no one complaining about the outcome since UC Davis athletic expenses are covered by student fees. But the process of getting there this way is not doing anyone any good.

The size of the crowd at the last WBIT game was about the size of a crowd at a UC Davis game.
annarborbear
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Bad day trying to post from my IPhone.
stu
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annarborbear said:


Bad day trying to post from my IPhone.
I blame all of our woes on Apple.

BTW I've never had a good day trying to post from a phone.
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