Colby College named Division I assistant coach Chenel Harris-Smith as its new head women's basketball coach, replacing Brittany Gaetano who led the Mules for three seasons.
Colby Director of Athletics Jake Olkkola announced the hire on Monday via release.
“Coach Harris-Smith is a proven recruiter who has mentored some of the nation’s best women’s basketball players," said Olkkola in the release. "She cares deeply about the student-athlete experience and we believe she will lead our basketball program to prominence within the NESCAC and beyond.”
Harris-Smith has had four stops at the Division I level. Last season she was the associate head coach at St. Francis in Brooklyn. She was also part of the coaching staffs at Binghamton, Stony Brook and the University of Arkansas.
Harris-Smith played collegiately at Kent State and was a captain of the Trinidad and Tobago national women's basketball team in 2011.
“Words cannot express the level of excitement that I have to embark on this journey as the new head women’s basketball coach at Colby College,” said Harris-Smith in the release.
She replaces Brittany Gaetano who went 33-40 in three seasons. Gaetano came to Colby in 2016 after being Drew's head coach for six seasons. The Mules made the NESCAC tournament in Gaetano's first year and upset Middlebury in the first round of the playoffs before falling to eventual national champion Amherst. Colby missed the conference playoffs the last two seasons and finished 10-14, 2-8 last season.