Six Smith has been hired as the next head coach of the Princeton girls basketball team. Submitted photo
By David Wolman
Princeton High School filled the last three of its five head coaching vacancies for the upcoming school year last week.
Six Smith has been named head coach of the Lady Panthers’ basketball team. Sharon Davidson will lead the Princeton tennis program, and Shane Sharkey has been tapped to coach the Panthers golf team.
Earlier this year, Princeton hired former Sherman head coach Yolanda Beasley to lead the Lady Panthers’ volleyball team and brought in Tony Doran, formerly of Keller Timber Creek, as the new coach of the boys cross country team.
Smith, who brings prior head coaching experience, spent the 2023-24 season leading Waco Connally to a 27-9 record and a trip to the Region I-6A Division I final. Before that, he was an assistant coach at DeSoto. Though he was hired to be an assistant coach at North Crowley last season, family reasons kept him off the court.
Now, Smith takes over the reins at Princeton and looks to build on the Lady Panthers’ recent success. Under former head coach Carla Denning— now at Mansfield Lake Ridge— Princeton made the playoffs for five consecutive seasons, reached its first-ever regional final in 2023-24 and followed up with a 24-win season and second-place finish in District 6-6A, its first year in Class 6A.
“I’ve been excited ever since I made the decision to take the job,” he said. “I’ve inherited some great student-athletes. It’s a great fit. The previous coach did a great job of building the program up from 4A all the way to 6A and left me with some great pieces. I went as far as discovering that Princeton in the No. 1 growing city in the nation. I didn’t know where Princeton was until my nephew told me it was up north, near McKinney. It sparked a lot of interest. The rest is history.”
Smith takes over a roster that graduated three key starters: guards Elisa Sifuentes and Mariah Hart and forward Terrayah McCoy, who was named the District 6-6A Defensive Player of the Year. Returning players include rising senior guard Chandler Evans, senior forward Leah Bradley and rising sophomore guards Jada Childress and Rayleigh Williams.
“I want the team to be in your face on defense,” Smith said. “We want to be very active on defense, have high communication. I want us to run on offense. When we don’t score in the first six to eight to 10 seconds, we want to be methodical. We need to have a read-and-react offense.”
In tennis, Davidson will take over the reins of the program previously held by Damon McDowell. A veteran coach with 25 years of experience, Davidson most recently led the Gregory-Portland High School tennis program in Class 5A, where the team made the playoffs all eight seasons under her guidance and had a state qualifier in singles. Before that, she worked as a junior high school coach in the Gregory-Portland Independent School District.
Davidson took a break from coaching last year to watch her son, Lleyton, compete for the Allen High School tennis team. Her husband, Jeff, is entering his first season as the head coach at Wylie East. Her oldest son, Jacob, is entering his second season as the head coach of Anna High School.
Davidson said she has met already with some of the Princeton athletes and their parents. Team tryouts and a parent meeting are scheduled for next week.
“They seem like great people,” she said. “The ones that I’ve met are enthusiastic and have been working hard this summer. We’re in the toughest district in the state. We have a lot of young kids. We’re going to build and focus on what we can do, try to improve each day. Hopefully, the results will take care of themselves.”
Sharkey takes over for Beau Dodson, who is now the head golf coach at Wylie East. He spent the last two seasons coaching golf at Leadership Prep School, a charter school in Frisco. Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, Sharkey played baseball in high school but developed a passion for golf after college and soon turned to coaching.
“I’m super excited,” Sharkey said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity. I’m excited to be in a bigger district. It will be fun for us to compete with the best in the state.”
With the graduation of the team’s top two golfers — Beau Dodson and Luke Phillips — Sharkey hopes for a quick rebuild. He plans to start a group chat with returning and incoming players this week to discuss the upcoming season, expectations and answer any questions.
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