Matt Schmidt begins his second season as the head women's basketball coach at Armstrong Atlantic State University.

In his first season as a collegiate head coach, Schmidt led the Lady Pirates to a third-place finish in the Peach Belt Conference and a 17-11 overall record, including a 12-8 mark in the league. The Lady Pirates continued their streak of defeating at least one nationally-ranked team each season, stretching that streak to nine with wins over No. 7-ranked USC Aiken and No. 7-ranked Francis Marion.

Schmit joined AASU last year from Northern Kentucky, where he served as an assistant coach from 2004-08. He was instrumental in helping the Norse achieve its second NCAA Division II National Championship a season ago as Northern Kentucky went 28-8 and defeated South Dakota 63-58, in the national championship game. During his four seasons with the Norse, he assisted head coach Nancy Winstel in all aspects of the Northern Kentucky program, including recruiting, scouting, practice and game-day coaching, and helped the Norse to a 92-32 record during that span.

A native of Johnstown, Pa., Schmidt spent three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Findlay prior to joining the Northern Kentucky coaching staff. He also previously served as an assistant coach at both West Virginia University and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

Schmidt takes over an AASU women's basketball program that went 20-11 a season ago and advanced to the 2008 Peach Belt Conference Championship game, the third title game appearance in Lady Pirate basketball history. The Lady Pirates return 10 players from last season's squad and add a trio of newcomers to the squad for 2008-09 as AASU searches for its first PBC title since 2002-03.

Schmidt played basketball at West Liberty State College in West Virginia, where he graduated in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education. He earned his master's degree in physical education from West Virginia University in 2000. Schmidt and his wife, Brittany, were married in May of 2009 and reside in Savannah.