Jen Smith ’02, ’04 Answered When the Call Came
9/18/2026 10:10:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Originally Published in the Summer Edition of the Millersville Review
It didn't take long for Jen Smith '02, '04 to hear the buzz. Word travels fast in basketball coaching circles. Her alma mater's program needed a new head coach. Smith gave the news no thought. She was too busy closing out a third consecutive PSAC East championship as the head coach at Lock Haven – her home for the last 20 years, and she fully expected that it would be her home until she retired from coaching. But then the phone rang. Her eyes caught the name on the screen, and no matter how busy Smith is with game planning, recruiting, practice planning or with her own three children, she always has time for the person she still calls Coach.
The voice of Mary Fleig, the legendary Millersville women's basketball coach who retired in 2020 with 645 career wins, cut through the speaker. Her message to Smith was succinct, as if she was delivering an out-out-bounds play call to Smith during the first half of a game in 2002. Nothing Fleig might have said could have possibly meant more than what Smith heard.
"Jen, it's time to come home."
Smith led Lock Haven to a 70-19 record from 2023-26, running roughshod over the PSAC East. It's never been easy for women's basketball coaches to win consistently at Lock Haven. In the 10 years before Smith's arrival, the program had enjoyed just one winning season. Smith provided stability. She is the program's longest-tenured coach and the only Lock Haven coach to ever win more than 200 games. When Smith's Bald Eagles won the East in 2024, it was the program's first division title since 1991. That same team won a school-record 29 games, and Smith's teams went 20-9 and 21-6 the next two seasons. Before that, Lock Haven had won 20 or more games in a season just four times ever. Smith had no intention of jumping off that rolling train.
"We had to put a lot of work in there," says Smith. "There were not a lot of resources, and we had to completely turn the program around. If you asked me 10 years ago if we'd get to the NCAA Tournament or win the East three years in a row, I would have told you no. I didn't know if that was something that was feasible, so to piece it together and have such a special group achieve that success, it makes you feel like the struggle was worth it."
But never underestimate the persuasiveness of Fleig. Smith earned All-PSAC East honors, set a school record for 3-pointers in a game, won two PSAC East titles and played in three NCAA Tournaments in four years under Fleig. Smith coached two seasons alongside Fleig before becoming a head coach herself at the age of 25. Who Smith is as a coach, how she builds her practices and how she relates to players derive from Fleig's influence. So even now, when Fleig calls and tells Smith to do something, Smith does it.
"I was completely focused on staying at Lock Haven for the rest of my career," says Smith. "The dream of being at Millersville had ended, and I was 100% bought-in to where I was. Then Coach Fleig called me. That's when everything changed. I know she gave 30 years of her life to that program, and I kind of looked at it as my responsibility to get things back on track and make her proud. She can call me at any point and ask me to do something, and it's a 'yes, ma'am,' and I'm doing it."
While Smith and Lock Haven closed the regular season on a 16-game winning streak, she watched in her periphery as Millersville went into a tailspin with six consecutive losses. The Marauders still reached the playoffs, went on the road and pulled off a gutsy 64-61 win at East Stroudsburg. That performance caught Smith's eye.
"Obviously, Millersville is a great job with great resources, great location, all those things," says Smith. "But what really stood out to me was that this year's team, with all that they had to maneuver and go through, went up to East Stroudsburg and won a playoff game. That showed that this team is special and tough and has a lot of fight to them. That really intrigued me. I wanted to come in and be with players like that. If I was going to take the job, I wanted to win right away. I've gotten used to winning. That game showed me what the team was made of and that the kids are the same as when I was there. That's how the program was built."
In that game against East Stroudsburg, Millersville trailed by as many as seven early in the fourth quarter, but freshmen scored 13 of the team's final 14 points as the Marauders rallied. That's the kind of grit Smith possessed as a player and the kind of grit she demands from her players as a coach. Toughness was stitched into the fabric of Fleig's teams. Smith learned about that toughness playing with Millersville Athletics Hall of Fame inductees like Sara Burcin '01, Safiyyah Bashir '04 and Gema Robles '03. She was teammates with the late Nicole (Schneider) Bomberger '00, who inspired many with her courageous battle against breast cancer. In Smith's senior season, the team had to replace five starters, including the program's all-time leading scorer. Smith stepped into the starting lineup and put up career numbers, averaging 13.5 points per game while shooting nearly 85% from the line and 34% from three. She was the kind of player who refused to lose. That season's unexpected 22 wins remain a point of pride for Smith.
"I don't think people thought were going to be very good, which on paper, we probably shouldn't have been. But I wasn't going to lose my senior year. That was not going to happen."
Smith famously never missed a game or a practice in her four years. Later, after the births of her children, she returned to coaching within a week. She checked herself out of the hospital to host a campus visit for a recruit who eventually became an All-PSAC East performer. To play for Smith, toughness isn't just encouraged; it's demanded. It is who she is, and she expects nothing less from her players.
"I tell every recruit that if you are going to play for me, you have to be tough," says Smith. "It's non-negotiable for me. It sounds cliché, but it's different to be tough daily. We were always the underdogs at Lock Haven, so we had to develop a mentality that we were not afraid of anybody, we're going to step up and fight every second of every game, and you have to practice like that. It's not really X's and O's; it's a mentality of never giving up. You'll see a kid get knocked down, and I'm going to scream, 'Get up!' You don't stop until you are subbed out and sitting on the bench."
Smith is back home. Her parents live right across the Susquehanna River in York County. She went to high school at Eastern York, and her high school coach, who would often drive to Lock Haven to watch Smith coach, now has a much shorter commute. Her area connections are already making a difference, as she quickly signed Clarion transfer and Eastern York grad Arianna Seitz, who scored 31 points against nationally ranked Gannon last season. Mariah Shue, another York native, followed Smith from Lock Haven. But the foundation of the program was already solid. Millersville returns six players who started games, including 2026 PSAC East Freshman of the Year Daniella Ranieli, its three leading scorers and two leading rebounders. In an era of never-ending player movement via the transfer portal, the fact that the core of the team stayed at Millersville speaks volumes on how the players feel about the arrival of Smith.
Smith's hiring also energizes an alumni base that cherishes their experience with Fleig on the sideline. She is a connection to a championship heritage of basketball not just through lineage but by demeanor, personality and style. Smith's arrival signifies a bright future. She's a coach with undeniable PSAC East success, taking over a program set up to win big right now.
"As an alumna, I couldn't be more excited to welcome Coach Smith back to Millersville," says Dr. Branden Lippy '07, '09M, who in addition to being a high school athletic director is an adjunct professor at Millersville and has kept close connections to the program since graduation. "Coach Fleig left an incredible legacy that had a lasting impact on so many of us, and I know our alumni are committed to honoring that legacy through our continued support of the program. There is something truly special about having an alumna leading the program, and I believe that is exactly what has been needed. I look forward to seeing the program continue to grow and proudly represent the rich tradition of Millersville women's basketball."
Smith's competitive spirit does not allow her to rest on any laurels. She has one focus, and it is the one thing that eluded her as a Marauder – win a PSAC Championship.
"I played in three NCAA Tournaments and two conference championship games, but we never cut the net down. That's stayed with me, and that's what I am striving for – to get back and provide that experience with my players. It's not always about winning those big games but the experience of playing in them. It is something that you carry with you forever. Experiencing that at Millersville left a mark, and I want to be able to provide that to my players."
Check out the Millersville Review Here.
The voice of Mary Fleig, the legendary Millersville women's basketball coach who retired in 2020 with 645 career wins, cut through the speaker. Her message to Smith was succinct, as if she was delivering an out-out-bounds play call to Smith during the first half of a game in 2002. Nothing Fleig might have said could have possibly meant more than what Smith heard.
"Jen, it's time to come home."
Smith led Lock Haven to a 70-19 record from 2023-26, running roughshod over the PSAC East. It's never been easy for women's basketball coaches to win consistently at Lock Haven. In the 10 years before Smith's arrival, the program had enjoyed just one winning season. Smith provided stability. She is the program's longest-tenured coach and the only Lock Haven coach to ever win more than 200 games. When Smith's Bald Eagles won the East in 2024, it was the program's first division title since 1991. That same team won a school-record 29 games, and Smith's teams went 20-9 and 21-6 the next two seasons. Before that, Lock Haven had won 20 or more games in a season just four times ever. Smith had no intention of jumping off that rolling train.
"We had to put a lot of work in there," says Smith. "There were not a lot of resources, and we had to completely turn the program around. If you asked me 10 years ago if we'd get to the NCAA Tournament or win the East three years in a row, I would have told you no. I didn't know if that was something that was feasible, so to piece it together and have such a special group achieve that success, it makes you feel like the struggle was worth it."
But never underestimate the persuasiveness of Fleig. Smith earned All-PSAC East honors, set a school record for 3-pointers in a game, won two PSAC East titles and played in three NCAA Tournaments in four years under Fleig. Smith coached two seasons alongside Fleig before becoming a head coach herself at the age of 25. Who Smith is as a coach, how she builds her practices and how she relates to players derive from Fleig's influence. So even now, when Fleig calls and tells Smith to do something, Smith does it.
"I was completely focused on staying at Lock Haven for the rest of my career," says Smith. "The dream of being at Millersville had ended, and I was 100% bought-in to where I was. Then Coach Fleig called me. That's when everything changed. I know she gave 30 years of her life to that program, and I kind of looked at it as my responsibility to get things back on track and make her proud. She can call me at any point and ask me to do something, and it's a 'yes, ma'am,' and I'm doing it."
While Smith and Lock Haven closed the regular season on a 16-game winning streak, she watched in her periphery as Millersville went into a tailspin with six consecutive losses. The Marauders still reached the playoffs, went on the road and pulled off a gutsy 64-61 win at East Stroudsburg. That performance caught Smith's eye.
"Obviously, Millersville is a great job with great resources, great location, all those things," says Smith. "But what really stood out to me was that this year's team, with all that they had to maneuver and go through, went up to East Stroudsburg and won a playoff game. That showed that this team is special and tough and has a lot of fight to them. That really intrigued me. I wanted to come in and be with players like that. If I was going to take the job, I wanted to win right away. I've gotten used to winning. That game showed me what the team was made of and that the kids are the same as when I was there. That's how the program was built."
In that game against East Stroudsburg, Millersville trailed by as many as seven early in the fourth quarter, but freshmen scored 13 of the team's final 14 points as the Marauders rallied. That's the kind of grit Smith possessed as a player and the kind of grit she demands from her players as a coach. Toughness was stitched into the fabric of Fleig's teams. Smith learned about that toughness playing with Millersville Athletics Hall of Fame inductees like Sara Burcin '01, Safiyyah Bashir '04 and Gema Robles '03. She was teammates with the late Nicole (Schneider) Bomberger '00, who inspired many with her courageous battle against breast cancer. In Smith's senior season, the team had to replace five starters, including the program's all-time leading scorer. Smith stepped into the starting lineup and put up career numbers, averaging 13.5 points per game while shooting nearly 85% from the line and 34% from three. She was the kind of player who refused to lose. That season's unexpected 22 wins remain a point of pride for Smith.
"I don't think people thought were going to be very good, which on paper, we probably shouldn't have been. But I wasn't going to lose my senior year. That was not going to happen."
Smith famously never missed a game or a practice in her four years. Later, after the births of her children, she returned to coaching within a week. She checked herself out of the hospital to host a campus visit for a recruit who eventually became an All-PSAC East performer. To play for Smith, toughness isn't just encouraged; it's demanded. It is who she is, and she expects nothing less from her players.
"I tell every recruit that if you are going to play for me, you have to be tough," says Smith. "It's non-negotiable for me. It sounds cliché, but it's different to be tough daily. We were always the underdogs at Lock Haven, so we had to develop a mentality that we were not afraid of anybody, we're going to step up and fight every second of every game, and you have to practice like that. It's not really X's and O's; it's a mentality of never giving up. You'll see a kid get knocked down, and I'm going to scream, 'Get up!' You don't stop until you are subbed out and sitting on the bench."
Smith is back home. Her parents live right across the Susquehanna River in York County. She went to high school at Eastern York, and her high school coach, who would often drive to Lock Haven to watch Smith coach, now has a much shorter commute. Her area connections are already making a difference, as she quickly signed Clarion transfer and Eastern York grad Arianna Seitz, who scored 31 points against nationally ranked Gannon last season. Mariah Shue, another York native, followed Smith from Lock Haven. But the foundation of the program was already solid. Millersville returns six players who started games, including 2026 PSAC East Freshman of the Year Daniella Ranieli, its three leading scorers and two leading rebounders. In an era of never-ending player movement via the transfer portal, the fact that the core of the team stayed at Millersville speaks volumes on how the players feel about the arrival of Smith.
Smith's hiring also energizes an alumni base that cherishes their experience with Fleig on the sideline. She is a connection to a championship heritage of basketball not just through lineage but by demeanor, personality and style. Smith's arrival signifies a bright future. She's a coach with undeniable PSAC East success, taking over a program set up to win big right now.
"As an alumna, I couldn't be more excited to welcome Coach Smith back to Millersville," says Dr. Branden Lippy '07, '09M, who in addition to being a high school athletic director is an adjunct professor at Millersville and has kept close connections to the program since graduation. "Coach Fleig left an incredible legacy that had a lasting impact on so many of us, and I know our alumni are committed to honoring that legacy through our continued support of the program. There is something truly special about having an alumna leading the program, and I believe that is exactly what has been needed. I look forward to seeing the program continue to grow and proudly represent the rich tradition of Millersville women's basketball."
Smith's competitive spirit does not allow her to rest on any laurels. She has one focus, and it is the one thing that eluded her as a Marauder – win a PSAC Championship.
"I played in three NCAA Tournaments and two conference championship games, but we never cut the net down. That's stayed with me, and that's what I am striving for – to get back and provide that experience with my players. It's not always about winning those big games but the experience of playing in them. It is something that you carry with you forever. Experiencing that at Millersville left a mark, and I want to be able to provide that to my players."
Check out the Millersville Review Here.
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