Smith completed her second season as head coach of the Stony Brook Swimming and Diving program in 2019-20.
In just her second year leading the Seawolves, Smith coached redshirt senior Michal Liberman to the gold medal in the 100-yard butterfly at the America East Championship, marking the first individual title for the program since 2011.
Under Smith’s guidance, Liberman flourished in her final season of collegiate swimming, breaking both the school record and ECAC Winter Championship record in the 100 butterfly. Liberman also qualified for an ‘A’ final in three individual events at the conference championship.
Smith also developed a pair of freshmen into contenders at the America East Championship. Maddy Enda earned a spot on the podium with a third-place finish in the 200 butterfly while taking sixth in the 100 butterfly. Classmate Reagan MacDonald also shined in her first collegiate conference meet, placing seventh in the 200 backstroke.
In her first year at Stony Brook in 2018-19, Smith coached sophomore Sara Chin to an eighth-place finish in the ‘A’ final of the 100 breaststroke at the America East Championship.
The Seawolves also saw success at the ECAC Winter Championships that year, placing sixth out of 17 total squads while Chin was runner-up in the 200 breaststroke.
In November, Smith and Stony Brook earned their first victory in their home pool following five years of renovations, defeating LIU Post by a 124-109 decision.
Smith’s team was also successful in the classroom, being named a CSCAA Scholar All-America team for both the fall and spring semesters.
Smith joined the Seawolves family after spending three seasons as an assistant coach with the Yale swimming and diving program.
During her time at Yale, Smith helped the team achieve back-to-back undefeated Ivy League dual meet seasons and claim their first Ivy League Championship in nearly two decades. She worked for head swimming coach Jim Henry and head diving coach Chris Bergere.
Smith's prior collegiate coaching experience includes experience at the Division I and Division II levels. She spent two seasons with the University of Virginia, where she primarily worked with the middle-distance swimmers, and helped lead the team to the ACC Championships in 2014 and 2015, as well as 11th and fifth-place finishes at the NCAA Division I Championships in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Before the University of Virginia, Smith coached the sprint and middle-distance swimmers at Wingate University in North Carolina, leading the team to a conference championship and a sixth-place and 11th-place finish at the NCAA Division II Championships for the women's team and men's team, respectively. Wingate also had multiple All-Americans during Smith's time as a coach. Also at the Division II level, Smith coached the distance swimmers at Truman State University during the 2011-2012 season.
In 2008, Smith was named an ASCA (American Swim Coaches Association) Fellow. She completed research into the survival of swimming and diving programs across the country to determine how best to limit the number of teams that get dropped from the varsity athletics departments at colleges and universities.
Smith competed at the collegiate level for Penn State. She was named the team captain in 2005 and was a member of the Big Ten Championship team in 2002 and 2005.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING…
"Kerry Smith is an excellent choice to lead the Stony Brook program. Her wealth of experience along with her ability to connect with her students will transform the Seawolves team. She will do a great job making everyone around her better."
Jim Henry - Head Swimming & Diving Coach, Yale University
