Melissa Batie-Smoose, who has spent 30 years coaching Division1 teams, has been named the new Head Volleyball Coach at Cisco College, according to CC Athletic Director Amanda LeCroy.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Melissa Batie-Smoose to Cisco College,” LeCroy said. “Her coaching experience, leadership, and passion for developing student-athletes will be a tremendous asset to our volleyball program. We are incredibly excited to see the impact she will bring in as she leads our program into this next chapter.”
Batie-Smoose, whose student athletes can call her “Coach Melissa,” was born in Detroit but grew up in Miami, Florida, before moving to Pleasanton, California, for high school. From there, she attended Texas Tech University on a volleyball scholarship in 1986. After two years, she transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg on another volleyball scholarship. Although recruited by many universities across the country, she chose Southern Mississippi because of their architecture program. However, when she arrived, she learned she could not study architecture and play volleyball at the same time, so she changed her path to coaching. She graduated from Southern Miss in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Administration, and a minor in Recreation.
