Stacy Clinesmith, former WNBA veteran and Spokane native, was hired as an assistant women’s basketball coach on May 2, 2014. The standout from Mead high school has been able to transfer her knowledge of the game as a player into developing guards as a coach. Stacy brings tons of energy and enthusiasm, and does a tremendous job of creating relationships with recruits and within the community.
Going into her 12th season with the Bulldogs, Clinesmith has mentored 22 All-WCC guards, including two WCC Players of the Year: Elle Tinkle (twice), Keani Albanez, Laura Stockton (twice), Chandler Smith (twice), Jill Townsend (three times, including the 2019-20 Player of the Year), Katie Campbell, Jessie Loera and Kayleigh Truong (four times), Kaylynne Truong (2022-23 Player of the Year and two All-WCC awards). She most recently mentored the 2024-25 WCC Freshman of the Year in Allie Turner. In 2019-20, then-freshman Kayleigh Truong was honored as a member of the WCC All-Freshman team. In the 2020-21 season, Kayleigh Truong was also named to the All-WCC Honorable Mention team and then named to the 2021-22 All-WCC First Team. In 2023, she coached Kaylynne Truong into the WCC Player of the Year as the guard also earned First Team All-WCC honors.
During the 2023-24 season, Clinesmith coached the Truongs in their final years at GU. Both were given All-WCC First Team honors at the conclusion of the regular season as the duo led the Zags to a historic season. The Zags went on to win 24-straight games – a school record – to claim their 19th WCC Regular Season. GU went undefeated in the West Coast Conference with a 16-0 record and defeated opponents by an astonishing average of 30.7 points, which was not only a school record, but was also a WCC record. Not only were they undefeated in conference, they remained perfect inside the Kennel during the regular season for the second-straight season to make them have the second-best winning streak at home in the nation – only behind National Champion South Carolina. During those 24-straight wins, one of those stood out in conference games. On Feb. 3, the Zags hosted Pacific and scored a record breaking 19 three pointers to defeat the Tigers, 104-39. The 65-point win was the largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent in school history as seven Bulldogs contributed to the 19 threes made.
In 2022-23, Clinesmith mentored WCC Player of the Year Kaylynne Truong at guard. The senior was named an AP All-American Honorable Mention and helped lead the Zags as the top three point scoring team in the country during the season. Truong led the team in assists during the year as she stepped up as a leader when her sister, Kayleigh Truong, went down with an injury at the beginning of the year. Kaylynne started in every game for the Zags and dished out 172 assists to rank seventh all-time at GU. She also broke the most made three pointers in a season with 94. Both the Truongs announced during senior day that they would return for another year in 2023-24.
Clinesmith mentored WCC Player of the Year Jill Townsend at guard. The junior led the Zags in scoring (12.3 ppg), second in rebounding (5.6 rpg), first in free-throw percentage (85.1), second in field goal percentage (49.7) and third in three-point field goal percentage (41.1). She also tutored Jessie Loera—who led the Zags in assists and finished her career ranked fourth all-time with 445 assists—and Katie Campbell who was selected to the All-WCC Second Team. In 2018-19, both Loera and Laura Stockton averaged over 4.0 assists per game, while Stockton finished her career ranked third all-time in program history with 459 assists. In 2017-18, Clinesmith oversaw three guards in Stockton, Chandler Smith and Loera who all averaged over 2.7 assists per game and scored at least 6.2 points per contest. Smith picked up All-WCC Second Team honors while Emma Stach was selected WCC All-Tournament. In 2016-17, she tutored All-WCC Honorable Mention selection Stockton at point guard; Stockton finished the season with 144 assists, 10th on the single-season GU list. That season, Gonzaga ranked first in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.06.
Clinesmith arrived at Gonzaga following three seasons as an assistant coach at Santa Clara University. During her stint with the Broncos, Clinesmith coached two All-WCC honorees, and All-Freshman selection and five WCC All-Academic honorees. In her first season at SCU, she guided the team to its best start in program history, and as the guard coach, mentored Alyssa Shoji who went on to set the WCC single-season three-point field goal record (99).
Clinesmith began her career in the collegiate ranks serving as Oregon State University’s Director of Basketball Operations in 2008-09 and went on to become the assistant coach at Central Washington University in 2010-11.
Before hitting the collegiate coaching ranks, Clinesmith enjoyed a record-setting basketball career. She was tabbed the Washington State 3A Player of the Year while at Mead and went on to become one of the most accomplished guards ever to play at UC Santa Barbara. She finished her college career second in UC Santa Barbara history in assists (647) and fourth in scoring (1,565 points).
Clinesmith led the Gauchos to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and earned All-Big West honors three times, starting with her sophomore season, and was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team as a rookie. The Gauchos won the Big West Tournament titles in each of her four seasons and Clinesmith was tabbed the Big West Tournament Most Valuable Player in 2000.
After her collegiate career, Clinesmith was drafted by the Sacramento Monarchs in the second round of the 2000 WNBA Draft and spent two seasons playing for Sacramento before joining the Detroit Shock in 2002. She went on to play with the Springfield Sprint of the National Women’s Basketball League (NWBL) and the Gigantes de Carolina in Puerto Rico.
Clinesmith graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2000 with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology. She has been a certified strength and conditioning coach since 2004.
