Baseball

Steve Smith completed his first season as a volunteer assistant coach at Santa Clara.

Smith helped guide three Broncos to All-WCC honors during the 2017 season. Junior Jake Brodt was named to the All-WCC First Team while sophomore John Cresto earned honorable mention recognition and Andre Nnebe earned All-Freshman Team accolades. Brodt ranked No. 23 in the country with 21 doubles on the year. That mark is tied for the sixth-best total in program history for a single season while Cresto hit 12 home runs.

Prior to Santa Clara, Smith was the head coach at Baylor for 21 years and guided the Bears to their most successful 10-year run in the program's history, a 2005 College World Series appearance, and became Baylor's all-time wins leader in all sports. Smith also served as 2008 president of the American Baseball Coaches Association, head coach of the 2005 USA Baseball National Team and pitching coach for the 1998 USA Baseball National Team.

A 2006 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Smith compiled a 744-523-1 career record, all at Baylor. Nationally, he ranks among the top 50 in wins among active coaches in the NCAA with five or more years of experience. On Feb. 23, 2014, against Austin Peay, Smith earned his 700th career win to become the 36th active coach in NCAA Division I baseball to reach the plateau.

Smith, the 2012 Midwest Region Coach of the Year, passed his predecessor Mickey Sullivan (649 wins) for the program's all-time wins record when the Bears defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on April 17, 2012, extending their winning streak to 20 games. That streak lasted four more games, becoming the longest in Big 12 history, and it included the first 18 games of the 2012 Big 12 season, which was also a conference record for longest streak in league play.

Smith has led Baylor to 13 NCAA Regional appearances (2012-09, 2007-05, 2003-1998), four NCAA Super Regional appearances (2012, 2005, 2003, 1999) and one College World Series (2005). With 13 NCAA Regional appearances since 1998, Smith has placed Baylor on a list with only 13 other teams. He also has coached 45 All-America selections, 13 Academic All-America selections (1 Academic All-American of the Year), 31 All-Region choices, 38 Academic All-District choices, 18 Freshman All-America selections and eight USA Baseball National Team members while at Baylor. Additionally, Smith has coached winners of the Golden Spikes Award, Dick Howser Award, Rotary Smith Award and Johnny Bench Award.

Following high school at Gulfport (Miss.) High School, Smith went on to Mississippi College, where he lettered in football and baseball (1979-80). He pitched 42.2 innings with a 1.27 ERA and 26 strikeouts for the Choctaws. As a true freshman, Smith quarterbacked the football team to the Gulf South Conference title and a third-place finish in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Smith then transferred to Baylor, sitting out the 1981 season due to NCAA transfer rules. While playing for the Bears in 1982, Smith led the Southwest Conference with a 1.72 ERA, bettering league foes and future major league pitchers Norm Charlton, Roger Clemens, Doug Drabek and Calvin Schiraldi. He posted a 5-4 record in nine starts, giving up only 13 earned runs in 68 innings pitched. In 1983, he was 6-7 with a 3.57 ERA for the Bears, allowing only 32 earned runs in 80.2 innings of work.

After being selected by the San Francisco Giants in the fifth round of the 1983 free agent draft, Smith spent four years working his way through the Giants' minor league system, ending his professional career in 1986 with the Class AAA Phoenix Firebirds. In his initial season of professional baseball with the Great Falls Giants, Smith went 8-3 with 107 strikeouts in 94 innings and only 16 walks. After an elbow injury limited him to only 60 innings in 1984, Smith won eight games for the Fresno Giants en route to the California League championship in 1985.

Smith returned to Baylor in 1986 to complete a degree in secondary education. He then served as a graduate assistant for coach Mark Johnson at Texas A&M, where he received his master's degree in business administration in 1989.

Smith is married to Melinda Smith and they have two sons, Ryan and Case.