The Utah Valley baseball team announced in a press conference on June 3 that Eddie Smith will be the next head coach for the Wolverines.
Smith has spent the last two seasons as the hitting coach for national powerhouse LSU. He has been a coach for nearly 15 years. Smith started his coaching career with the Virginia Cavaliers in 2007. He made stops at Santa Clara, Notre Dame, Lower Columbia College, and Tulane along the way. Smith holds a 312-174-1 record in his time as a NCAA Division I coach.
“Eddie Smith is a proven winner with a magnitude of experience at the highest levels of college baseball,” said UVU athletic director Jared Sumison during the press conference. “He has a history of success everywhere he has been and has learned from some of the most successful head coaches in the country.”
Over the course of his coaching career, Smith has helped 60 players be selected in the MLB Draft, including four first-round picks and 15 players who made it to the major leagues. Some of these players include Trey Mancini of the Baltimore Orioles, Chris Taylor of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Conor Biggio, son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio.
“It is a great honor to be the baseball coach at Utah Valley. This program has the foundation to compete at a very high level and we can’t wait to get to work,” said Smith in the conference. “We will build the program around high character individuals who are committed to playing a tough brand of baseball. We look forward to having a baseball team that will make the community proud.”
Smith played collegiately at Centralia (Wash.) Community College, before transferring to Notre Dame where he won a pair of Big East Championships in 2005 and 2006.
While at Tulane, one of Smith’s additional jobs as an assistant coach was recruiting coordinator, during which he helped bring in a recruiting class that was ranked No. 1 in the country by Perfect Game.
Smith takes over for former head coach Eric Madsen, who posted a 309-363 career record over 13 seasons. Madsen led the Wolverines to their first NCAA regional in 2016.
