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Notre Dame women's basketball hires Irish alumna Jas Smith as director of operations

IMG_9992by: Tyler Horka06/11/25tbhorka
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A basketball rests on the court as the Notre Dame Leprechaun performs during a timeout in the second half of the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Duke Blue Devils at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Jas Smith is back at home. A 2016 graduate of Notre Dame, Smith has officially been announced as the Fighting Irish women’s basketball director of operations.

Smith was previously the director of operations for LSU football since Jan. 2022. The Brian Kelly connection helped her earn the job in Baton Rouge; Smith was Kelly’s coordinator of on-campus recruiting in South Bend from 2018-21.

As an undergraduate student at Notre Dame, on her way to a degree in information technology management, Smith worked in the Fighting Irish football program as an ambassador from 2014-16.

Smith was an admissions counselor at her alma mater in 2016-17, and she was an assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Nova Southeastern University following that. Between working for Kelly in South Bend and then again in Baton Rouge, Smith was a senior sports manager for the Special Olympics in Miami in 2021.

It’s a pivotal time for the Notre Dame women’s basketball program, and there are fresh faces around to try to make the most of it. Recently, the university hired alum Pat Garrity as the men’s and women’s basketball teams general manager. He’ll obviously work closely with Smith to try to get the women’s team back on track.

It’s a program coming off a fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance, but with the roster head coach Niele Ivey had in 2024-25 having the season end in the first game of the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament was disappointing. All-American guards Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles seemed poised to lead the Irish to the Final Four, and they did get Notre Dame to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 in February, but it was a flaming out from there. Ivey’s team lost four of its final eight games following a 19-game winning streak.

Miles and three other players from last year’s roster — centers Kate Koval and Kylee Watson and guard Emma Risch — left Notre Dame via the transfer portal. The Irish also had three 2025 WNBA Draft picks in Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld and Liatu King. The Irish replaced them with one true freshman in Leah Macy and four portal players in Wake Forest’s Malaya Cowles, Kansas State’s Gisela Sanchez, Duke’s Vanessa de Jesus and Loyola Maryland’s Kelly Ratigan.

In all, Notre Dame goes into the 2025-26 season with 11 players on the roster, including two walk-ons. There are only three returning players from last year’s roster — Hidalgo and senior guards KK Bransford and Cassandre Prosper.

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