About
Our Hoops Coaches
Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith, 29, is a wife and mother of three boys. The Midland, Michigan native attended H.H. Dow High School from 2004-2008, where she was a standout performer on both the hardwood and on the diamond.
While at H.H. Dow, Tay racked up the points and the awards earning First-Team All-SVL and Dream Team honors in basketball and softball.
At the collegiate level, she began at Saginaw Valley State University before finishing her academic and athletic career at Delta College. By the time the clock hit 0:00 on her playing days, Tay grew mentally and physically adding her first baby boy to her life on top of a laundry list of hoops accolades. The awards include NJCAA First-Team All-American, MCCAA Conference MVP, First-Team All-Eastern Conference, All-MCCAA Team, NJCAA District H All-Tournament Team and many more.
She even broke Delta’s scoring record by scoring 41 points, and the next game, bested it again by netting 43.
Tay played at a very high level from age nine to age 23 and now is pouring into the youth. She has coached multiple teams, operated one-on-one training for youth through the high school level, worked numerous camps and refereed middle and high school basketball.
We are honored to have a hoops leader with the affinity for not only developing the youth’s skills, but also their minds and hearts!
Sara Barker
Sara Barker, 36, is a wife of nearly a decade and mother of one boy. She is a native of Holt, Michigan where she attended Holt High School playing 2 years of varsity softball and was a four-year letter winner in basketball.
Along with serving as the basketball team’s captain for two seasons, Sara was also named the team’s MVP back to back years, All-State Honorable Mention and her school’s Outstanding Female Athlete of the year.
She continued her career at Saginaw Valley State University 2002-2005 before finishing at Northwood University 2005-2008. During Sara’s freshman season at SVSU, she suffered a gruesome leg injury and literally had to learn to walk again. With there being a possibility of never playing again, Sara was back on the court in six months! She went on to win the Red Badge of Courage award along with team MVP in 2004-2005.
At Northwood, Sara again served as a captain and leader on and off the court. In 2006-2007 she joined the Timberwolves’ 1,000-point club and graduated Cum Laude in 2008 with her B.A. in Sports Management.
Now she practices as a Certified Personal Trainer, Precision Nutrition Coach and has been on staff as Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at Northwood since 2018. True to form, Sara never settles. She will also be a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist soon!
Sara lives by the mantra, “The way you do anything is how you do everything,” and will bring that same attention to detail, dedication and leadership every day to the Michigan Made Family!