When Wanisha Smith entered her senior year at Duke in 2008, her relationship with basketball began to change.
Smith was a highly successful player, racking up nearly every award in high school and scoring 1,256 points with 496 assists at Duke. However, Smith’s love for her individual performance began to fade as she got older, even after being selected 27th in the WNBA Draft by the New York Liberty. Instead, Smith began to look back at everything her coaches did for her during the years and decided she wanted to give back in a similar way.
“My heart just wasn’t it wasn’t there,” Smith said. “I knew the work that was going to be required to be successful in the league. And I did not want to waste time. I didn’t want to waste anybody’s time.”
After just one game in the WNBA, Smith had the opportunity to play overseas but opted against it and jumped into the world of coaching. After multiple different stops and 16 years, Smith finds herself on the sidelines at Temple and is helping the Owls become one of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference.
“I wanted to get into this game and I wanted to give back because I had great coaches,” Smith said. “I just wanted to be able to be in a space where I could give that same energy, that same aura that basketball is life and what you learn here, you’re going to be able to carry it with you when you graduate.”
Smith had stints at Longwood and Towson, where she coached alongside current Temple head coach Diane Richardson, to start her coaching career. During the 2019-20 season, she got the opportunity of a lifetime to return to her alma mater as an assistant coach.
Returning to Duke meant Smith had to leave Richardson, who coached her in high school and gave her an opportunity at Towson. It was a difficult decision for Smith, but the chance to coach at Duke was too good to pass up. However, a wrench was thrown into her plans before her first season in Durham even finished.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020, Smith decided to step away from basketball and temporarily found a new passion in cooking.
Smith decided to organize a dinner date night for a friend and their fiance while vacationing in Miami. That dinner date led to a potential career as a chef; Smith took online classes and eventually began catering for various women’s college basketball teams.
“It was one of those things where it literally fell into my lap,” Smith said. “The way that the food made people feel, it made me want to expand it so that’s when I started doing the post-game meals and things like that.”
Smith was just about ready to pursue a full-time cooking career, but an opportunity to return to basketball came up and she couldn’t turn it down.
Richardson was named Temple’s head coach in 2022 and she immediately called Smith to see if she wanted to rejoin her on Broad Street. Smith knew she couldn’t say no to her mentor and dropped the pan to pick up the basketball again. In three years with the Owls, Smith has helped Richardson and the team find on-court success while being a vital part of the culture.
“[Smith] played at the highest level and I want my players to be able to understand what this game of basketball could do for them,” Richardson said. “And Wanisha is just the story of what basketball could do for you.”
In just their second season at Temple together in 2023, Smith and Richardson helped guide the Owls to the AAC regular season crown. Temple is in contention for a top spot in the conference again this season and Smith has played a major role from the sidelines.
A significant component in the Owls’ success has been the culture that has been established. Temple is built on playing with energy and a sense of togetherness on the court and in the locker room. Smith has been the backbone of that culture, constantly bringing energy to the team while instilling her wisdom in players to help them overcome adversity.
“I feel like if we didn’t have her energy, we probably wouldn’t be as successful as we are today,” said guard Tarriyonna Gary. “Because no matter what, she’s just always trying to help us whether it’s in little points or ways to think while you’re playing the game or ways to be in practice.”
Smith entered the coaching realm to give back to players after seeing how much her coaches did for her while she was a player. Throughout her career, Smith has worked on taking lessons she learned from past coaches and applying them to her players now. She is helping turn the Owls into a contender in the AAC while rehashing lessons she learned throughout the years.
“It’s always about trying to get our players now to understand that basketball equals life,” Smith said. “The things that you guys are doing right now or not doing will be a reflection of how your life will be. So I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve taken from [my old coaches], that I’ve been able to apply to our team.”
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