Jeff Metcalfe

azcentral sports

Tracy Smith was 2013 National Coach of the Year at Indiana

The 48-year-old is 2-time Big Ten Coach of the Year

Smith has 604 wins in 18 seasons as a Division I head coach

Smith has recruited in the West including pitcher from Scottsdale

No one ever doubted that Indiana's Tracy Smith was among the more-qualified candidates in Arizona State's known baseball coaching pool.

The questions were whether ASU would make a competitive financial offer and, if so, whether Smith would accept the challenge and pressure that comes with a job where two of the four former coaches are in the College Baseball Hall of Fame and every season begins with fan expectations of it ending in Omaha at the College World Series.

"We tend to deliver" on coaching hires, ASU Vice President for Athletics Ray Anderson said when the search to replace Tim Esmay began June 9. He did that Tuesday for the third time since starting at ASU in February, luring the 2013 National Coach of the Year with a five-year contract that still must be approved by the Arizona Board of Regents. Anderson also has hired new wrestling and women's gymnastics coaches.

"We wanted to make a commitment to him and him to us," Anderson said. "He will be compensated fairly, and we hope to have a good long-term future with him. We feel we got the right guy for our program."

Smith, 48, an Indiana native, comes west after 18 years and 604 wins in the Midwest. His head-coaching resume is evenly divided between Indiana (287 wins from 2006 to 2014) and Miami (Ohio) (317 wins from 1997 to 2005). He took the Hoosiers to the College World Series for the first time in school history in 2013 while winning the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles in 2013 and '14.

This season, Indiana was the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Tournament but lost in a home regional to Stanford. The Hoosiers were a combined 93-31 in the past two seasons, both with Smith earning Big Ten Coach of the Year.

ASU will formally introduce Smith at a news conference Thursday.

Anderson said Smith "did more with less in terms of building his program. He did some incredible things in a very tough environment. Projecting ahead with him coming to a very frankly much stronger baseball environment, how much better can he do? That's exciting for us."

Anderson, who played football and baseball at Stanford, said Smith's track record in evaluating players and developing them into major-league quality stood out. "That really made a difference for us as we tried to look at all the skill sets."

Indiana "wanted to keep him in the worst way," Anderson said, but Smith was "keenly interested in a program of this magnitude with its history and location. The ability to come to one of the top programs in the country was a career opportunity he coveted."

ASU is a five-time national champion although the most recent title was in 1981. The Sun Devils have won 30 or more games for 52 consecutive seasons and reached the College World Series four times between 2005 and 2010. They were 33-24 this season and third in the Pac-12 but lost two straight games in a regional for the first time since 1992.

Relief pitcher Ryan Burr said he knows a little about Smith from Indiana players he played with on the USA Collegiate National team. "The guy knows how to win," Burr said. "He has Omaha experience and knows what it takes to get there. He has the next level of coaching I think we need."

Anderson decided he wanted new leadership going into a new era at Phoenix Municipal Stadium and forced Esmay, who was making $200,000 annually in base salary, to resign with one year left on his contract. The coaching search went swiftly with Smith mentioned as a candidate from the start but not necessarily seen as a realistic hire because of his Midwest roots.

But Smith has successfully recruited in the West including pitchers Joey DeNato of San Diego and Aaron Slegers of Scottsdale. Fifty-four of his players have been major-league draft picks including Kyle Schwarber, the No. 4 overall selection this year, highest in Indiana history.

Also Smith was involved in fundraising for stadium upgrades at Indiana and Miami, a skill that is necessary as ASU remodels Phoenix Muni, former spring-training home of the Oakland A's.

Indiana baseball Academic Progress Rate improved under Smith and was a perfect 1,000 between 2008 and 2010.

Indiana men's basketball coach Tom Crean tweeted that Smith "is one of the finest coaches I have ever met. It was an absolute honor and privilege to work side by side with him" and that "ASU has no idea how fortunate they are to have you."