Atlanta Dream Hire Karl Smesko As Next Head Coach

Smesko leaves his role as the head women's basketball coach at Florida Gulf Coast just weeks into the 2024 college basketball season.

The Atlanta Dream have hired Florida Gulf Coast's Karl Smesko as next head coach. / Jonah Hinebaugh/Naples Daily News / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Atlanta Dream have hired Florida Gulf Coast head women's basketball coach Karl Smesko to the same role, the team announced on Wednesday.

Smesko, who has the third-highest winning percentage among active women's basketball head coaches (.843), joins the Dream just weeks into the 2024 college basketball season. The 54-year-old Smesko had been the head coach at Florida Gulf Coast since 2002.

"I am humbled and honored to be the next head coach of the Atlanta Dream," Smesko said in a statement released by the team. "I am grateful for a remarkable 23 years at FGCU and will be forever indebted to the amazing women who have played for me, the incredible professionals who have coached with me, and the passionate fan base who supported us along the way. I'm tahnkful to the leadership of the Atlanta Dream for their faith in me to lead this organization into the future and can't wait to get started."

Smesko is replacing Tanisha Wright, who was fired by the Dream in October after three seasons at the helm. She went just 48-68 in her three years as head coach, including a 15-25 mark this past season. The Dream fell in the first round of the playoffs 2-0 to the New York Liberty prior to Wright's dismissal.

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