Cal's Women's Basketball Coach Charmin Smith Signs Three-Year Contract Extension

Cal is coming off its best season in Charmin Smith's five years as head coach, and Cal heads to the ACC next season

Cal announced Thursday that Golden Bears women's basketball coach Charmin Smith has signed a three-year contract extension with the school. The announcement comes two weeks after Cal completed its best season in Smith’s five years as the Bears’ head coach.

Smith is now signed through the 2028-29 season, and Cal begins play in the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.

The 2023-24 Cal team went 19-15, including 7-11 in the Pac-12, both of which are the Bears’ best marks under Smith. The Bears barely missed making the field for the NCAA tournament, but were invited to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT), losing to Saint Joseph’s in the second round of that event.

Next season, Smith is scheduled to bring in a Top 25 recruiting class (ranked No. 23 by ESPN last November) that features two ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 players in Kamryn Mafua (54) and Zahra King (76) along with recently named Gatorade and MaxPreps Hawaii State Player of the Year Lola Donez.

So far none of the key Cal players with college eligibility remaining has entered the transfer portal, nor has any transfer from another school committed to Cal.

The Bears struggled in Smith’s first four seasons.

They went 12-19 overall and 3-15 in the Pac-12 in 2019-20, which was Smith first season as Cal head coach.

Cal was 1-16 overall and 1-12 in the conference in the pandemic-plagued 2020-21 season.

Cal went 11-13 and 2-10 in the 2021-22 season also affected by postponements and cancellations.

The Bears were 13-17 overall and 4-14 in Pac-12 play in 2022-23.

Many consider the Pac-12 the best college women’s basketball conference in the country, and with its demise the Golden Bears will play in the ACC, which also has high quality women’s basketball although probably not as much elite depth as the Pac-12 had this past season.

“We are excited to extend Charmin’s contract as we generate momentum with our move to the ACC,” Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton said in a statement provided by Cal. “Charmin took our team to a new level this season, and I’m excited about the direction of our program under her leadership. Charmin understands and embraces everything it takes to thrive as a Cal student-athlete, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for our team.”

“Cal is where I want to be and I’m thrilled that Jim and our university are committed to me leading this team into the ACC,” Smith said in a statement provided by the school. “We accomplished a lot of great things this season and have momentum moving into next year during the most exciting time in women’s basketball. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and I'm looking forward to taking the next steps with this special staff and the talent we are fortunate to coach.”