The University of North Georgia Athletics department added two new assistant coaches last week, as Iain Smith and Ben Casanova joined the coaching staffs of the UNG Women’s Soccer and Men’s Basketball teams respectively.
SMITH
Head women’s soccer coach Kayley Ralton announced that Smith will be promoted to the full time women’s soccer assistant coach position.
Smith served as an assistant coach for the spring 2021 season after Ralton took the interim head women’s soccer coaching position.
The Nighthawks went 7-3 on the season with a trip to the Peach Belt Conference semifinals for a sixth time in seven seasons.
Prior to his arrival in Dahlonega, Smith served as a varsity assistant coach at Thayer Academy and currently coaches at UFA.
Smith played collegiately for two seasons at Clayton State where he was a team captain and an All-Conference honoree.
He currently holds the DII record for fastest consecutive goals, scoring twice in eight seconds against Erskine in 2015.
Prior to Clayton State, he played at Clemson where he holds the school record for latest goal scored in regulation, scoring with a second left against Boston College.
Smith graduated from Clemson with his Bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in athletic leadership.
He obtained his Master’s degree from Clayton State in clinical psychology.
CASANOVA
Head men’s basketball coach Dan Evans announced the addition of Casanova as a second assistant coach for the men’s basketball program.
Casanova recently finished his graduate assistantship at Toledo.
As a member of the Rocket coaching staff, Casanova’s responsibilities included analytic breakdowns, video coordinator and assisting in organizing the program’s annual summer camps and the coordination of the program’s community relations efforts.
A Sylvania, Ohio native, Casanova played college basketball at Ohio Dominican University from 2015-19 for Evans.
As a junior, he helped the Panthers to their first NCAA Division II tournament appearance.
Ohio Dominican won the 2018 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament title by defeating No. 11 Findlay, 68-66, in the semifinals and Hillsdale, 71-53, in the championship game.
Casanova earned second-team all-state honors as a senior at Sylvania Southview, where he helped the Cougars post a 24-1 record and a No. 1 ranking in the state.
He averaged 19.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 6.0 apg and was named Northern Lakes League and District Player of the Year in his final prep season.
Casanova graduated with magna cum laude honors from Ohio Dominican in May 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in business and finance and a minor in sport management. Casanova’s father, John, played in the National Football League with the Cincinnati Bengals (1984) and Green Bay Packers (1985) after a four-year collegiate career at Northern Michigan University.
Both Smith and Casanova will begin their full time duties starting in July.