Katie Smith Will Be Ohio State’s Victory Bell Ringer vs. Kent State
By
Dan Hope on September 15, 2026 at 10:28 am
@dan_hope
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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Katie Smith will ring the Victory Bell before Ohio State’s second home football game of the 2026 season.
Ohio State announced Tuesday that Smith, one of the greatest players in OSU women’s basketball history and a current assistant coach for Kevin McGuff’s team, will
be the pregame Victory Bell ringer for Saturday’s game against Kent State.
Smith will be the first woman to ring the Victory Bell before an Ohio State football game, a tradition that started last season.
A two-time All-American and three-time Big Ten Player of the Year, Smith led Ohio State to a Big Ten championship and national championship game appearance as a freshman and scored 2,578 points in four seasons as a Buckeye (1992-96), a program record at the time. She went on to become a seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time WNBA champion, also winning WNBA Finals MVP honors with the Detroit Shock in 2008.
The first female athlete in Ohio State history to have her number retired, Smith was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001. She was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Smith is now entering her third year as an assistant coach for the Buckeyes after previously coaching for a decade in the WNBA.