Woodstown approves Haddonfield’s Matt Smart to take girls basketball program; he’s excited about the opportunity, understands the expectations
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Matt Smart likes to say he learned to walk on a basketball floor, the son of a longtime South Jersey basketball coach and the only boy among three sports-loving siblings. So, it would stand to reason that he aspired to be a coach himself.
He couldn’t have picked a better situation for his first head coaching gig.
Smart was approved Thursday to become the new head coach of the Woodstown girls basketball team. He succeeds Kara Straughn, who stepped aside for family considerations after guiding the Wolverines to the South Jersey Group I championship game last year. He will be their third coach in as many years.
Excited doesn’t begin to describe the way the 28-year-old Haddonfield native feels about the opportunity. He’s been handed one of the top girls programs in South Jersey led by two of the most dynamic scorers in the state. Megan Donelson and Goldey-Beacom commit Talia Battavio are both on track to finish their careers not only as the leading scorers in Woodstown history but among the top scorers in Salem County all-time.
When Smart first learned of the opening from his Haddonfield connections already at the school he spent all hours of the day researching the players and the program to be prepared for the interview. And while he’s been getting to know the team during its summer league play as he awaited board approval, he’s been itching to tell somebody.
He finally got the OK to tell the world and wasted no time getting it out on social media.
“When I saw it posted on line, I said let me try to be a head coach,” he said. “From the moment I heard the job was opening up that’s all I could think about.
“My girlfriend woke up at 5 a.m. the morning the job got posted and was like ‘What are you still doing awake?’ I told her my mind’s just going right now. I started working hard on getting a plan I could present to Mr. (athletics director Joe) Ursino, the superintendent and anybody in the interview process. I was super excited.
“I got the call at work when they offered it to me and I was like, excuse me, Mr. Ursino, (stepped back) and went, ‘Yes-s-s-s-s;’ I had to let it out. That was a great feeling. II wanted to scream it from the rafters, but I kept the ceiling shut until that board meeting happened.”
Smart comes to Woodstown after four years as the Haddonfield Middle School girls coach – the last two as the JV and varsity assistant coach — with a strong athletics pedigree. He also coached football for eight years and while nothing has developed on that front yet, he was with the Wolverines during their 7×7 tournament at Total Turf over the weekend.
His father Phil has had a long tenure in athletics, coaching basketball and volleyball in South Jersey before moving into administration. His love for women’s sports came from his two sisters, both of whom starred in field hockey. The oldest, Meghan, played collegiately at Appalachian State and Old Dominion and now coaches at a high school in Virginia Beach. The other, Emily, is an assist machine and captain at Stevens Tech.
For a team that has won 20 games the last four non-COVID seasons in a row and made deep runs in the playoffs, he knows expectations are high for the Wolverines. They came within a last-second corner 3 of winning the South Jersey title last year and have most of their players back. They may have a golden path laid out before him, but Smart wisely has no plans to travel it on cruise control.
“The expectations are set high and we have to work hard to achieve those expectations,” Smart said. “It’s not going to be just given to us. I think the girls and I understand there’s a lot of work to be done if we want to achieve all the goals both as a team and as individuals that they want to achieve.
“I know there are going to be some ups and downs, but we have to work hard. We’re going to work hard and hopefully meet those expectations.”
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