The Colorado women’s basketball team lost an assistant coach this week.

Bianca Smith, who is one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in CU history and spent this past year on the Buffaloes’ staff, has taken an assistant coaching job at Michigan State. MSU announced Smith’s addition Thursday.

This is the fourth consecutive offseason in which CU head coach JR Payne has lost an assistant coach. From 2017-22, Payne had the same three top assistants for five consecutive seasons.

Smith came to CU last June after four seasons at Lamar.

From 2006-10, Smith starred for the Buffs as a guard from Missouri City, Texas. She scored 1,138 points (27th in program history) and hit 257 3-pointers, which was a school record until Frida Formann broke the mark at the end of the 2023-24 season.

After graduating from CU, Smith made coaching stops at Texas Southern, Rice, Pittsburgh, Loyola Chicago and Lamar before joining the Buffs’ staff. Smith was just the sixth former player to return CU as a full-time coach.