One of the most exciting offenses in basketball is moving to the WNBA after signing the Atlanta Dream

Karl Smesko has become synonymous with a unique style of offensive basketball on Florida’s Gulf Coast over the past two decades. He places a premium on efficiency and coaches his players to hit the best shots possible, whether it’s advantage layups, catch-and-shoot threes, or anything that comes unchallenged from an optimal spot on the court .

The Eagles categorize these baskets as above-the-line shots, or ATLs.

That nickname may already be taken at his next job, but the concept remains the same. On Wednesday, Smesko was named the new head coach of the Atlanta Dream. ATL meets “ATLs”. Arguably the most distinct offense in college basketball comes to the WNBA, where Smesko can combine a historically successful system with elite athletes on the biggest stage.

“For me it’s about getting a new challenge and working with the best basketball players in the world,” he said.

WE HAVE OUR COACH! The Dream has hired Karl Smesko as our new head coach.

Learn more: pic.twitter.com/et8bV0NsMt

– Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) November 13, 2024

Smesko, who has coached at FGCU since 2002, has long been considered one of the best college coaches in the country. His colleagues ranked him among the best X and O coaches and offensive game planners in The Athletic’s anonymous coaching polls over the past two seasons. Entering this year, he had the third-highest winning percentage among active coaches behind UConn’s Geno Auriemma and LSU’s Kim Mulkey. In the last decade, only South Carolina’s Auriemma, Mulkey and Dawn Staley had more 30-win seasons.

The secret has always been Smesko’s willingness to think outside the box and experiment. This has resulted in a radical offensive approach that places a heavy emphasis on 3-point shots. FGCU has finished in the top four in Division I in 3-point attempt percentage each season since 2009-10 (the first year’s data is available through Her Hoop Stats). In seven of those 15 seasons, the Eagles led DI in percentage of shot attempts from beyond the arc, peaking at 49.1 percent in 2021-22.

Smesko, 54, keeps notebooks full of ideas, most of which he says he has never tried. Perhaps some of those plans will surface for the Dream, who are seeking a third straight postseason appearance for the first time since 2012-14.

A running joke at FGCU was that every player was listed in his position title as a “shooter” rather than a guard, forward or center. Smesko said the appointment was a pipe dream for some, but he wanted to instill the mindset that anyone can be a good shooter with the right approach.

“The one thing we know for sure is that we’re going to play highly efficient basketball,” Atlanta general manager Dan Padover said.

Padover and the Dream fired Tanisha Wright after three seasons following their first-round playoff loss to the New York Liberty. Ownership and management worked closely with recruiting firm Korn Ferry to find the next coach. They looked for candidates with three main qualities: proven winners, innovative basketball minds and cultural creators. Previous experience as a head coach was also important. They assembled a pool of more than 50 candidates from diverse backgrounds, and Padover said he spoke to more than 35 candidates. Talks between Smesko and The Dream picked up steam last week.

Smesko’s father was a high school basketball coach in Ohio and Smesko became interested in the profession from an early age. His emphasis on shooting efficiency didn’t come from his father, but it did teach him the importance of denying opponents more possession.

Smesko’s approach began to crystallize while he was a student at Kent State University in the early 1990s. He watched and read about coaches like Bob Knight’s use of exercise and screening. He realized that so many teams across the country were inefficient and didn’t utilize the three pointer nearly enough. In his first head coaching opportunity at Walsh University in Ohio, he put the results into reality, playing a five-out system that placed guards around the 3-point line. “It was pretty simple math that was just ignored at the time,” he said.

His system does not require threes at all costs, but rather the right diet of threes – catch-and-shoots when attacking upfield, jumpers in transition before the defense sets, open looks in rhythm and balance. He makes a point of getting behind the defense for shots closer to the basket, but said, “If you have the right personnel, I have no problem shooting all threes. “You just have to have the right personnel to do it.”

Smesko inherits two dream players in Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray who have the skills to fit seamlessly into his system. Both are high-volume 3-point shooters who can also score off the dribble and play quickly. Nevertheless, they have to break some of the habits of the last few years in Atlanta.

Despite having two All-Stars, Atlanta had the least efficient offense in the WNBA and the lowest effective field goal percentage. The Dream ranked ninth in the league in 3-point percentage; They have never reached the 30 percent mark in their franchise history. They ranked last in pace and Howard hit 19.3 percent of their shots from mid-range (87 total). As a team, FGCU attempted 30 attempts throughout the 2023-24 season.

“We have to capitalize on their strengths and put them in optimal positions to take advantage of their size,” Smesko said of Howard and Gray.

He has a consistent track record of improving the efficiency of different types of players. Kierstan Bell, a former first-round draft pick and winger for the Las Vegas Aces, came to FGCU in 2020 after one season at Ohio State and her effective field goal percentage increased from 48.3 to 60.2. Smaller guards like Kendall Spray and Alyza Winston, who thought they needed pull-up jumpers in the midfield, were born for the Eagles. For The Dream to evolve, players need to start seeing the game Smesko’s way.

There will be necessary adjustments in the transition from the NCAA to the WNBA, including the pace of play. However, Smesko already often watches films 10 to 20 percent faster than live speed, so the gameplay feels slower and he can make quicker decisions. He also has to adjust to the differences in administration between the two levels. Smesko’s teams shine with freedom of movement, and even the players who don’t develop into knockdown shooters fulfill their role by clearing the floor with their cuts and slips. If this off-ball movement is stopped by holding and physicality that isn’t called for fouls, the flow of the offense will change.

After agreeing to a multi-year deal, Smesko joins the WNBA amid an explosion of interest and economics. Still, WNBA coaches have never faced greater instability, and some around the league point to the higher stakes as a reason for so many coaching changes. Seven franchises changed head coaches last offseason, and six left after no more than two seasons. He’s leaving a program he literally built from its infancy – he was FGCU’s first women’s basketball coach – and moving into a more difficult position.

There is no current comparison for the leap that Smesko is making. No WNBA franchise has hired a coach without NBA, G League or previous WNBA experience (player, assistant or head coach) since Sky Pokey hired Chatman from Spartak Moscow in 2011 following her tenure at LSU. Padover said the only current WNBA coach with a resume even close to Smesko’s was Curt Miller, who was Bowling Green’s head coach for more than a decade and had brief stints at Indiana and as an assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks. before the Connecticut Sun hired him in 2016.

“There is no better time for a coach to come into the league than now,” Padover said. “The first year there will be (eight) head coaches on his team. I think someone with head coaching experience at any level will be a big advantage right now.”

Smesko’s philosophy is based on the search for advantages. He knows he still has a lot to learn, but is convinced of the dream’s potential.

“Anyone moving to a new league is going to have a learning curve,” Padover said. “But someone as smart as Karl, as adaptable as Karl, will figure it out.”

(Photo by Karl Smesko: Greg Fiume / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)