UC Riverside

Natasha Smith enters her second year on staff for the Highlanders in 2025-26 and her first as Associate Head Coach. She comes to UC Riverside with an extensive coaching history, most recently as the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at San Francisco State University.

Smith led the San Francisco State program for six seasons and worked to rebuild a program that had only two winning seasons in 33 seasons prior to her arrival. During her tenure, she guided the program to the post season for the first time in over a decade and developed 10 CCAA All-Conference players.

Prior taking over at San Francisco State, Smith spent two years as the Top Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at the University of San Francisco, assisting the program to consecutive winning seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

In 2015-16, Smith was an Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Southern Oregon University where the program accomplished a historic season. That season, Southern Oregon won the most single-season (33) games in program history en route to the Cascade Conference Regular Season Championship, Cascade Conference Tournament Championship, and NAIA Division II Tournament National Runner-Up finish.

From 2013 to 2015, Smith was an Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach under Molly Goodenbour, who she also coached under at San Francisco, at Cal State-Dominguez Hills. Smith helped lead the program to one CCAA Regular Season Championship, as well as consecutive CCAA Tournament Championships and NCAA Tournament berths. Smith began her coaching career at her alma mater Chico State where she served as an Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach for the 2012-13 season, assisting the program to the CCAA Tournament Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.

A 2013 graduate of Chico State, Smith was a four-year standout on the basketball team and ended her career as the school's all-time leader in games played and helped lead the program to three NCAA Tournament berths. She also ranked seventh all-time in career points, fourth in career assists, fifth in career steals, and fifth in free throws made.

A native of Sacramento, Calif., Smith attended Sheldon High School where she was a two-time All-Delta League selection.