Michigan baseball officially hires Tracy Smith as head coach

Michigan Wolverines baseball has its new head coach. The program announced Tracy Smith as its new leader Sunday. He replaces Erik Bakich, who took the Maize and Blue to five NCAA Tournaments in 10 years before departing for Clemson after the 2022 campaign.

“We are excited to welcome Tracy Smith, his wife, Jaime, and their family, to Michigan to lead our baseball program,” athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. “Succinctly put, Tracy is one of the best collegiate baseball minds in the country. He is a tireless recruiter who can evaluate, project, and develop talent at the highest level of this sport.”

“My family and I are proud to join the University of Michigan family, and this storied Michigan baseball program,” said Smith. “Having competed on the field against the likes of Barry Larkin, Jim Abbott, Casey Close and many others, I am aware of the tremendous talent and tradition of this program. I would like to thank Warde Manuel, Rob Rademacher, the staff and our student-athletes for allowing me the opportunity to build upon the history of U-M baseball and the recent successes of my friend and colleague Erik Bakich. The standards in the Big Ten Conference and at the University of Michigan are set high, and I am honored to lead our next group of champions. Go Blue!”

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Smith has been a college head coach for 25 years, and has won 805 games while developing 90 MLB Draft picks, including seven first-rounders (among them is Detroit Tigers 2020 No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson) and seven USA Baseball Collegiate National Team selections. He’s one of eight coaches to bring three different Division I schools to the NCAA Tournament. He most recently was the head coach at Arizona State, before being fired after the 2021 season. He had a 202-155 overall record during his seven-year tenure in Tempe.

Here’s more from the Michigan press release:

“Smith earned National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 2013 after leading Indiana to the school’s only Men’s College World Series appearance in a 49-win campaign,” the release read. “The Hoosiers followed that performance with 44 victories in 2014 before Smith moved west to ASU. Before his time at Indiana, Smith led his alma mater, Miami University (Ohio), for nine seasons.

“At Arizona State, Smith signed the nation’s top recruiting class in 2016, including eight players drafted by the Major League out of high school. His 2017 class was also rated in the Top-5 nationally and was the No. 1 class in the West region.

“Among the 90 MLB Draft selections developed under Smith, a staggering 58 of them have come over his past eight seasons, including the No.1 overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft, Spencer Torkelson, two first-rounders in 2019 and 2020 (Hunter Bishop and Alika Williams, respectively), and the fourth overall pick in 2014 in Kyle Schwarber. In addition, three other first-round selections played under Smith’s tutelage in 2009 in Eric Arnett, Josh Phegley, and Matt Bashore.

“Torkelson, already playing with the Tigers, was a two-time Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, given annually to the top player in college baseball. He was a unanimous All-America selection as both a freshman and sophomore and became the first Pac-12 player in history to be crowned the league home run champion in three consecutive seasons.

Michigan added: “Despite the 2020 MLB Draft being shortened to five rounds from 40 due to the fallout from COVID-19, the Sun Devils made history as ASU’s five draft selections through the first four rounds marked a program record. The five selections in the 2020 MLB Draft were the most of any program. In addition, it was ASU’s third consecutive season with five draft picks and the fourth season in the last five years with the total.

“In guiding Indiana to consecutive 40-win seasons in his final two campaigns in Bloomington, Smith secured back-to-back Big Ten championships for the first time in school history. The Hoosier’s title in 2013 was the school’s first since 1949 and its first outright title since 1932 en route to the No. 4 national seed, the first national seed in Big Ten history.

“Smith mentored two Big Ten Players of the Year, three Big Ten Pitchers of the Year, and a pair of Big Ten Freshman of the Year in his time at Indiana.

“In nine years at Miami (Ohio), Smith compiled eight consecutive 30-win seasons, two NCAA Regional appearances, and advanced to the Mid-American Conference Tournament finals six times.

“He began his coaching career as head coach at Miami University-Middletown in 1990, served as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) from 1993-94, and was the pitching coach at Indiana from 1995-96.

“Smith was a four-year letterwinner as a pitcher and infielder at Miami (Ohio) before playing three seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization.

“Smith graduated from Miami (Ohio) in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in education before completing a master’s degree in sport organization from the school in 1992.

“A native of Kentland, Indiana, Smith and his wife, Jaime, have three sons, Casey, Ty, and Jack.”

Michigan baseball has lost eight players to the transfer portal and seen multiple commitments back out of their pledges. Smith’s first order of duty is to build the roster as he attempts to sustain the success Bakich had in Ann Arbor.