Christy Smith

Last College: Arkansas '98 Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 1st year

Christy Smith was hired as an assistant coach on June 16, 2011, after serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Valparaiso University for three seasons.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to work for Coach Versyp, and be a part of the Purdue women's basketball program," Smith said. "Having grown up just down the road, Purdue is a program that I have always admired and hoped to join, and this is even more special because there is no one I would rather work for than Versyp. I am grateful to Coach for the integral part she played in my career as a player and now my career as a coach. I am excited to get started."

Prior to her stint at Valparaiso, Smith was the head varsity girls' basketball coach at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, and before that she served as an assistant coach at Lafayette Jefferson High School and at Lake Country Christian School in Fort Worth, Texas, where she worked with Whitney Hand who currently stars for the University of Oklahoma.

Versyp's and Smith's paths have crossed before. Smith attended Benton Central High School where as a senior, Versyp was her head coach.

"I am thrilled for the opportunity to add Christy to my staff," Versyp said. "I am confident that she will be a great fit for our program and will add another layer of success to our pursuit of championships at Purdue. Christy played at the highest level and has always demonstrated a passion for the game, hunger to be the best, loyalty, toughness and strength and she is the type of person that never backs down from a challenge. She has great knowledge of the game. With her prior experience and the fact that she knows how I operate as a coach, she will be able to step right in to make an immediate impact with basketball and recruiting."

The Oxford, Ind., native has a rich basketball background. In the space of 12 months, Smith led Team USA to gold at the World University Games, Arkansas to the NCAA Final Four and the Charlotte Sting into the WNBA playoffs.

Smith was a four-time honorable mention All-American as a point guard for the Razorbacks, was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll three times, earned first team All-SEC as a senior after twice being named second team All-SEC. In 1995, she earned SEC Freshman of the Year recognition.

The three-time team captain is ninth all-time at Arkansas in scoring with 1,459 career points, Smith also ranks third in school history with 507 career assists and second with 239 steals. She is second all-time in made free throws, connecting on 461, a mark that ranks 10th in the SEC as well. Smith finished her collegiate career shooting 83.7 percent from the charity stripe, second best in Razorback history, and holds the single-season school record of 89.9 percent set in the 1994-1995 season, a year she led the nation in that category.

After a stellar senior season, Smith was drafted No. 17 overall by the Charlotte Sting in 1998 where she played two seasons for the WNBA franchise.

Smith was inducted into the University of Arkansas Hall of Honor in 2005, the fifth women's basketball player at the school to receive such an honor.

Smith has two degrees from Arkansas. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in exercise science in 1998 and went on to earn a master's degree in biomechanics in 2001. Smith and her family plan to reside in West Lafayette.

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