The Atlanta Dream are currently in second place in the WNBA and recently broke the franchise record for wins in a season. None of this would be possible without head coach Karl Smesko, who came in during his first year with the team and made a big difference. At this point in the year, many players are getting endorsed for end-of-the-season awards, and Smesko's name has come up in the Coach of the Year discussion.
After their franchise win against the New York Liberty, Smesko was asked about being a candidate.
“As for coach of the year, to me, the most important coach of the year is whoever wins the championship,” Smesko said. “The other thing is nice; it’s a title, it’s probably a contract bonus for most people. To me, the coach of the year is whoever gets their team through those playoffs and gets to hold that championship trophy.”
Though the award is for the regular season success, Smesko wants to make sure if he wins it, he wants to make a deep playoff run and win the championship. It shouldn't be out of the question for the Dream, especially with the way they've been playing this season.
Karl Smesko receiving endorsements for Coach of the Year
The players on the Dream have also been adamant about Smesko being in those conversations, and Naz Hillmon thought that her coach wasn't getting enough recognition.
“I think he definitely is deserving of being in those conversations,” Hillmon said. “If not, the top in my opinion. Maybe I’m biased, but before this season, we were ranked by some people as number seven, and we’re number two right now. The season is not over. We got a bunch of games left, but I think that speaks to what he’s done to make this team.
“You see a lot of players having career highs and adding more things to their game. Our coach is probably gonna say ‘Oh, I don’t care about it,' but I definitely think that I don’t hear enough about it, and I think that he should definitely be in that conversation.”
When Smesko was asked about what Hillmon said, he indeed tried to downplay the endorsement.
“I’m glad she said that. I want them to think nobody has an advantage over us in terms of being prepared for a game,” Smesko said. “There are great coaches in this league, and the goal is to have our team the best prepared to play every day. That’s a goal of mine, of having the best prepared team every time we go out.”
