Head Coach
Veronica.Hammersmith@mail.wvu.edu
(304) 293-4324
In 1975, Veronica Hammersmith was named coach of the West Virginia University volleyball team, taking over a one-year program that had finished 4-11 in its first season. Thirty-five seasons later, Hammersmith has been a mainstay of Mountaineer volleyball and has put her name into the top echelon of respected collegiate coaches, with an overall 563-561(.501) record.
Hammersmith became the second coach in WVU history to reach the 500-wins mark when the Mountaineers beat Providence, 3-0, on September 28, 2003, to join the late WVU Sports Hall of Fame baseball coach Dale Ramsburg, who amassed 540 wins from 1968-94.
WVU gymnastics coach Linda Burdette also joined Hammersmith and Ramsburg in 2003 in the 500-win club. Currently Hammersmith is third in the record books for most wins behind WVU men’s basketball Coach Bob Huggins (639-234) and Burdette (612-244-4), who became the first coach to reach the 600-win with a Mountaineer team in 2009.
Included in Hammersmith’s resume are 16 winning seasons, 10 20-or-more win seasons and two 30-plus win seasons.
Hammersmith is a veteran with a lengthy list of accomplishments as a leader in both the athletic and academic realms.
The Mountaineers posted their third-straight winning season in 2005 with an 18-13 record. Highlighting the season were record-setting performances by numerous athletes. She also guided Julie Hockenson to BIG EAST honors, only the second time in school history a player had been named to the all-conference team.
Hammersmith led West Virginia to a surprising 18-13 record in 2004, including the program’s first-ever victory at St. John’s.
In 1997, she guided WVU to a 15-13 record and it’s first-ever trip to the BIG EAST tournament. For her efforts, she was named the league’s coach of the year. In 1998, Hammersmith led her squad to its highest finish in the BIG EAST, a tie for fourth, and its second straight BIG EAST tournament with a 6-5 conference mark.
In 1991, she led the Mountaineers to a 26-11 record and a postseason appearance in the volleyball NIT, and she was named the 1991 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.
One of Hammersmith's greatest assets is her ability to motivate and encourage her players off the court. Since 1986, 40 Mountaineers have earned academic all-conference recognition. Most recently, in 2007, Kailee Goold was named first team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic all-District II, for the third time with a 4.0 grade point average as a double major in history and political science. In 2001, Krista Smith was recognized as a third-team selection to the 2001 Verizon Academic All-America women’s volleyball team. Smith maintained a 4.0 grade point average during her four years at West Virginia.
In addition, 19 players have garnered all-conference status since 1984.
A native of Kansas City, Kan., Hammersmith joined the Mountaineer athletic department in 1975 after coaching at Kansas, Benedictine (Kan.) and Bethany (Kan.).
Hammersmith earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Kansas and a doctorate in education from WVU in 1985.
In addition to her knowledge and skill as a volleyball coach, Hammersmith is a former basketball and softball coach, having served as the Mountaineer softball mentor for seven seasons.
