Foundation Academy hires Kimberly Smith as new girls basketball coach

Smith, the former South Lake High coach, takes over the Lions program from Foundation associate athletics director Krystal Thomas-Smith.

By Sam Albuquerque
| 6:00 a.m. May 23, 2024

Sports
High Schools

Foundation Academy has announced Kimberly Smith as its new girls basketball coach via its social media accounts.

“We are so excited to have Kimberly Smith leading our girls basketball program!” said Foundation associate athletic director Krystal Thomas-Smith, the former girls basketball coach. “As a former D-I athlete, she has a wealth of playing and coaching experience, and will be an asset to FA for years to come!.”

Following playing career at Florida Atlantic University, Smith joined the FAU staff in 2014 as a video coordinator. Most recently served as the girls basketball coach of South Lake High in Groveland; she took over the program in the 2017-18 season. In her seven seasons in charge of the Eagles, Smith led South Lake to four winning seasons and an overall record of 80-73.

Smith will take over a young Lions team — which should return its top five players — that finished the 2023-24 season with a 15-11 record and a loss in the Class 3A regional quarterfinals.

Sam Albuquerque

A native of João Pessoa, Brazil, Sam Albuquerque moved in 1997 to Central Florida as a kid. After earning a communications degree in 2016 from the University of Central Florida, he started his career covering sports as a producer for a local radio station, ESPN 580 Orlando. He went on to earn a master’s degree in editorial journalism from Northwestern University, before moving to South Carolina to cover local sports for the USA Today Network’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal. When he’s not working, you can find him spending time with his lovely wife, Sarah, newborn son, Noah, and dog named Skulí.