You’ll have to forgive me, as I am the least of experts when it comes to the story of Big Ten Baseball. I couldn’t tell you one head coach in the history of the conference besides the ones coaching now. But I know Tracy Smith.
So when the news came out Tuesday that the nine-year skipper at IU would be departing to the southwest to lead the Arizona State program, I was sad. I knew this was the end of the most accomplished eras in IU Athletics.
My first encounter with Coach Smith was in the fall of 2011, my freshman year, when he was a guest speaker in Myron Kanning’s “Intro to Business Administration” class. I still maintain that was one of the top three courses I’ve taken so far while at Indiana, by the way. He told us his angle on what it takes to be successful. This was before his popularity skyrocketed in Bloomington. He was the same modest, funny, down-to-earth guy then as he was the last time I had the chance to cover his team this past spring. The thing that stuck with me the most was how he stressed the importance of relationships.
“I’ll stop coaching when I stop valuing the relationships I have with others,” he said.
That’s what has made him so successful as a coach. His players love playing for him. They trust him. They can buy in to everything he preaches.
He’s great with the media. When you ask him a question, you know his answer will be honest and informative. He trusts you as a reporter.
The fans and the university adore him. The overwhelming majority of words from people giving their feedback on this news have been positive. They knew how much they meant to him while he was here.
College baseball just doesn’t mean a whole lot to most schools in this region of the country. Besides in the west and in the south, there aren’t many people who talk about it. Smith made that all change during his time at IU. Fans flocked to brand new Bart Kaufman Field the last two years to see “The Greatest Show on Turf.” His personal success of being the Big Ten Coach of the Year the last two years and National Coach of the Year in 2013 was the culmination of years of hard work, trying to build a hardly recognizable program at a run-down Sembower Field to a national contender. He did it on the relationships.
He was able to go to top Midwest players such as Micah Johnson, Kyle Schwarber, and Sam Travis and California players Alex Dickerson, Jerrud Sabourin, and Joey DeNato and convince them that they could change the culture and turn around an Indiana program that only went to the NCAA Tournament twice before Smith’s arrival.
Last year’s team with a run to the College World Series and this year’s team with a 21-3 Big Ten record, despite a disappointing exit in the regional round of the NCAAs, will not be forgotten anytime soon. Those fortunate enough to witness this era will speak about it years from now.
But like most stories in this transient college athletics business, the good ones come to an end. Coaches move on to the next challenge. It’s hard to blame Smith in this case. He has the chance to go from being the guy who builds programs to one who sustains winning ones. This one will be in one of, if not the top conference in the country, the PAC-12. With better year-round weather and an abundance of high school talent, Smith has a more realistic chance of making a national champion. It won’t be easy of course, but at 48 years old and with stock very high, this is the time to take on that challenge.
It’ll be interesting to see where Indiana baseball goes from here. When will we ever see this kind of success again? Who does Fred Glass go to as the new coach? The early name to pop up is Ty Neal, a former assistant under Smith at IU who is currently the head coach at Cincinnati. Or do they go with a more seasoned head coach who might not have IU roots?
Whatever direction they go in, it will be a story. And whatever happens in 2015 and beyond with Indiana baseball will be a story. There is now a real interest in the program.
Hoosier Nation has Tracy Smith to thank for that.
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@adamcohenIU, acohen@wiux.org
