Shelley Smith Position: Head Coach Experience: 11th Season Alma Mater: Vermont, 1993

SEC Weekly Video Feature: Shelley Smith

Shelley Smith enters her 11th season at the helm of the South Carolina women's soccer program in 2011 after turning the Gamecocks into conference and national title contenders with four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

Smith has led the Gamecocks to 59 overall and 25 SEC victories since the NCAA streak began with the 2007 season, marks that both rank second amongst the league's 12 active coaches. She has guided her teams to back-to-back SEC Championship Game appearances, winning the title in 2009 and claiming second in 2010.

The 2010 team posted a 15-6-4 overall mark and a program record 8-2-1 record in the SEC, earning the team the number two seed in the tournament, another program best. The team advanced to the NCAA Second Round in a year that saw Kayla Grimsley earn SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors in addition to becoming the second All-American in Gamecock history and a MAC Hermann Trophy Award candidate. The team earned four All-SEC selections in Grimsley, Ellen Fahey, Danielle Au and Brittiny Rhoades, who was also selected as a Top Drawer Soccer First Team of the Season selection.

Once again, the Gamecocks finished as one of the top defensive teams in the country in 2010. The Gamecock squad had a streak of 11 consecutive games in limiting opponents to four shots on goal or less, and finished the regular season as the SEC's leader in every major defensive category including goals against average, shutouts, shots allowed and points allowed. The team posted 10 shutouts on the year and was led by Rhoades on the backline and Mollie Patton in goal. Offensively, Grimsley led the league in goals, points and game-winning goals with a stat line of 12 goals, 10 assists and 34 points, tying the South Carolina single-season record for points in the process.

Carolina's success in the classroom also continued last season as her squad tied a program best with three Academic All-District honors in Mollie Patton, Christine Watts and Brooke Jacobs. Patton was also named to the Academic All-America first team, making South Carolina one of only two teams in the nation - and the only in the SEC - to have an Academic All-American selected each of the past six seasons. Even more impressive is that South Carolina is the only program in the country to have a first team Academic All-America selection each of the past three seasons. In addition, Patton was an NSCAA Scholar All-Region and Lowe's Senior CLASS Award candidate. Smith's team was also honored with its ninth NSCAA Team Academic Award. Smith has coached 154 SEC Academic Honor Roll recipients since coming to USC in 2001.

Smith has coached several top student-athletes at Carolina including Ashley Kirk, USC's first four-time All-SEC honoree, Carolina's All-Americans in four-time All-SEC selection Blakely Mattern and senior Kayla Grimsley, and two-time All-SEC performers Melinda Carter, Jessica Julin and Sarah Lentz. Julin is currently the captain of the Finland National Team, and Carter and Mattern played in the WUSA and WPS, respectively. The Gamecocks have earned 28 All-SEC honors in the last 10 years.

In her first season as head coach at Carolina (2001), the Gamecocks were the third-most improved team in the nation with an 8-7-3 overall record. Carolina also performed well at home with a 5-3 at Stone Stadium while allowing opponents to score only four goals in eight matches.

The success continued for USC in 2002 with 13 wins in Smith's second season. The year was highlighted with USC's first ever victories against Florida and Kentucky. Smith also led her team to ties against 2002 SEC champion Auburn and Eastern Division champion Tennessee.

Smith led the Gamecocks to another successful season in 2003 with 10 wins including a USC record eight-game unbeaten streak as well as a 6-2-1 record at home in Stone Stadium.

The 2004 season featured a win over No. 7 Clemson, the Gamecocks' first win over a ranked opponent since 1998, as well as a 6-3 mark in non-conference action. Ashley Kirk also became the first freshman soccer player in school history to be named SEC Freshman of the Year. In addition, Carolina set a school record for a home game winning streak with six consecutive wins.

Following an injury filled 2005 season, the program took a big step forward in 2006 as USC went undefeated at home for the first time in school history with an 8-0-3 mark at Stone Stadium. The team's cumulative goals against average of 0.69 was the lowest ever tallied at Carolina. The season culminated with the Gamecocks advancing to the SEC Tournament semifinals for the first time in Carolina history, as Blakely Mattern became the team's first Freshman All-America selection since 1998.

Smith directed the 2007 Gamecocks to arguably the best season in school history at that time, tying the school record with 14 victories and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in program history. Carolina posted a 14-6-3 overall record including a 5-4-2 mark in the SEC after beginning the season by becoming the first team ever to knock off defending national champion and top-ranked North Carolina in a season opening game at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. The Gamecocks ran to a 7-0-0 start to the season - program bests for start to a season and winning streak - and peaked at No. 7 in the national polls. For the second consecutive season South Carolina advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals after knocking off Tennessee for the first time in program history and earned the school's first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 1998. Blakely Mattern became the first sophomore to ever earn SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors in addition to becoming the first All-American in South Carolina history.

Smith has cemented Carolina's position as a conference title contender and player on the national stage after guiding the Gamecocks in 2008 to their second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and third consecutive SEC Tournament bid, both program firsts. The Gamecocks went 11-7-4 overall and earned five SEC wins for the third year in a row with only one senior on the roster. Respected as a top defensive team, the Gamecocks finished the regular season second in the SEC with eight shutouts and ranked in the top two in every major defensive category including goals allowed, points allowed, shots allowed and shots on goal allowed.

Carolina into the upper echelon of programs after Smith guided the Gamecocks in 2009 to the program's first SEC title and a berth in the NCAA Round of 16, earning her SEC Coach of the Year and NSCAA South Region Coach of the Year honors. South Carolina was a No. 2 national seed in the NCAA tournament and finished with a 19-4-2 record, the best in school history. The Gamecocks finished as one of the top defensive teams in the nation with a school record 15 shutouts, led by Mattern on the backline who was a consensus first team All-American and Lowe's Senior CLASS Award finalist in her final season. Grimsley finished the year with 33 points and was named an honorable mention All-American by Top Drawer Soccer. The team finished eighth in the nation in average attendance.

In 14 years as a head coach, Smith has compiled an overall record of 156-106-30. Besides her collegiate coaching, Smith was a member of the Region III ODP staff for the past six years, as well as an assistant for the `90 Regional Team. Smith also was a member of the 2003 U-14 National Camp staff for U.S. Soccer.

With a background in both semi-professional and collegiate soccer, Smith previously served as head coach at Rhode Island from 1997-2000. The 2000 NSCAA Northeast Region Coach of the Year, Smith rebuilt the URI women's soccer program, compiling a 41-34-2 overall record. Smith took a program that was 2-16 her first year to 12-6-1 in her second season, marking the eighth-most improved won-lost record for a team in NCAA history. In 2000, Smith coached URI to its best record ever of 15-4-1, while reaching the Atlantic 10 Semifinals, a first in URI history.

Smith was nominated for the 2000 National Coach of the Year. The New England Women's Soccer Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) also named her its Division I Coach of the Year in 2000. She was the 1998 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year as well.

In addition to her experience as a coach, Smith brings experience from the semi-professional level. From 1996-2000, Smith played for the Boston Renegades in the W-1 League. Smith was captain in 2000 as she led Boston to the semifinals in the W-1 Championship. The Renegades reached the finals in 1998. Smith also had the opportunity to play overseas in 1994 as a member of the Sheffield United Women's Football Club in England.

Smith, a 1993 graduate of the University of Vermont with a degree in nutritional science, received her teacher's certificate from the same institution in 1995. Smith started all four years for the Catamounts. Her primary positions were center midfielder and central defender. She was a regional All-American in both 1992 and `93 in addition to being named First Team All-North Atlantic Conference each year from 1991-93. During her freshman year, the squad won the ECAC Tournament. Vermont was one of the first programs to offer women's soccer as a varsity sport and it competed on a national level. Smith was named to Vermont's Athletic Hall of Fame in the summer of 2004.

Smith worked as an assistant coach at Dartmouth College from 1995-97. The Big Green made the NCAA Tournament in her second season with the program.

Smith is married to USC associate head coach Jamie Smith, a 1994 graduate of Providence College. They are the proud parents of two sons, Braden James, born on Nov. 25, 2003 and Evan Addison born on Jan. 6, 2006. The family resides in Columbia, S.C.

Smith has her USSF B license and the NCAA Advanced National Diploma. She is currently a member of the USYSA Regional Olympic Development Staff.

A native of Shaftsbury, Vt., Smith graduated from Mount Anthony Union High School in 1989.