Jessica Smith Position: Assistant Coach Experience: Fourth Season Alma Mater: Kansas, 2006

Kansas alum Jessica Smith will enter her second season as an assistant coach in 2012 after serving as the volunteer assistant coach for two seasons from 2010-11.

A standout for the Jayhawks from 2002-05, Smith was a team captain in 2004 and 2005, and was twice named Academic All-Big 12. Her 2004 team won the Big 12 regular season championship, the first in program history, while her 2003 squad advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament (round of 16).

In 83 career games in the Crimson and Blue, Smith scored 16 goals, which still ranks as the seventh-best mark in program history, and registered 10 assists, including seven goals during her freshman season. She was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week twice as well as to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week in 2005.

Before her current role with KU, Smith coached at various levels in the Kansas City Metro area, including as a varsity assistant coach for both the boys' and girls' teams at Olathe Northwest High School. During her time at ONWHS, she helped lead the Lady Ravens to back-to-back region championships in 2008 and 2009, while assisting with the Ravens' boys regional championship team in 2007.

In addition to her coaching duties at Olathe Northwest, Smith has served as a coach with the Kansas State ODP girls' program.

In 2008, she was an assistant with the 1992 team, which was the first Kansas ODP team (boys or girls) to win an ODP Regional Championship. Her team went on to participate in the U.S. Youth Soccer National ODP Championship tournament. Smith is currently working with the 1996 age group.

Smith has also spent time working with TOPSoccer programs throughout the state of Kansas as a chairperson as well as a coach. TOPSoccer is U.S. Youth Soccer's outreach program for children with special needs.

An NSCAA All-American at Wichita Southeast High School, the Wichita, Kan., product left her high school career as the state's all-time leading scorer, a title which current Jayhawk Kortney Clifton took over in 2007.

Smith, who graduated from KU in 2006 with a degree in sports and fitness management, holds a USSF National "B" Coaching License.