WEST POINT — A familiar face in Starkville has found a new place in West Point as Oak Hill Academy officially announced the hire of Starkville Academy assistant coach Nora Kathryn Smith as its new girls basketball coach on Thursday.
Smith, a 2014 graduate of Starkville Academy and two-time state champion, coached with the Vols for six years, but decided to make the jump to the Raiders.
“I’m super excited,” Smith said. “I’ve been around basketball forever. I actually played in Oak Hill’s gym for years and it’s always been a crazy environment and I enjoyed every bit of it. I’m really excited about this opportunity. It’s going to help me grow as a coach, and I’m excited about the program that’s already here and just building on top of it.”
Her most recent coaching venture has been in Starkville, helping coaching the Vols since 2019, but she also was an assistant under Glenn Schmidt during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Raiders athletic director Phil Ferguson was excited about Smith joining the program after he had tried to get her over to West Point last season, but to no avail.
This year was a different situation, a different answer and now a new coach in the fold.
“She’s proven herself as a worker, a great asset now for Oak Hill,” Ferguson said. “When she showed interest in us this year, everything had lined up for Lady Raider basketball to get better.”
She takes over the position from Terry Walters, who retired from coaching following this season, having coached at Oak Hill for the past four seasons.
“What a great job that Terry has done for us,” Ferguson said. “He’ll be sorely missed and we appreciate what he’s done for us. He’s handing the torch to Nora Kathryn.”
Last season, the Raiders reached the semifinals of the Class 4A North Half tournament, losing to Rossville Christian.
Coming from a background of championships, Smith is looking to turn around Oak Hill and bring back a winning culture to West Point.
“I know in the past few years, Oak Hill has made it pretty far in the playoffs,” Smith said. “I want to continue that and hopefully go even further. … I know some of these girls have potential to be really good shooters. I want to be able to work on that in preseason and just the aggressiveness that they have, the intensity that they play with, I want to continue and build on that.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion