According to a report from D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers, the Washington Huskies have found their new head baseball coach. A little over a week after Jason Kelly departed to become Texas A&M’s new pitching coach, athletic director Pat Chun hired Utah Valley’s Eddie Smith to take over.
“I could not be more excited to be the head baseball coach at the University of Washington,” Smith said in a statement. “I want to thank Pat Chun and (UW baseball sport administrator) Jordan Betts for their trust and belief in me to lead these young men. This program offers everything a player could want or need for their development and the opportunity to win championships. It will be an exciting time to build Husky baseball as we enter the Big Ten and our program will work with a relentless pursuit toward winning championships.
Smith has an impressive resume, as before he took the head coaching job with the Wolverines, he acted as the hitting coach with the LSU Tigers. In Baton Rouge, he helped guide the team to record numbers in the BBCOR era including 2023’s No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews, who recorded 18 home runs, 42 runs batted in, a .362 batting average, and an 1.116 OPS as a true freshman.
He also made stops at Notre Dame and Virginia and was an assistant during the Cavaliers’ 2009 and 2011 trips to the College World Series. Smith then took his first head coaching job at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington and was named the American Baseball Coaches Association’s 2015 National Coach of the Year at the junior college level.
Over three seasons at Utah Valley, Smith led the Wolverines to an 82-90 overall record, but led the largest two-year turnaround in all of Division I baseball from 2021 to 2023.
When he took the job, the Wolverines were a 10-47 team and after going 19-37 during his first year at the helm, but improved to 34-24 in his second year and finished one game shy of the NCAA Tournament. While also acting as the team’s hitting coach, Smith helped lead his team to school records in home runs, stolen bases, and walks.
He will have quite the task on his hands with the Huskies, who finished with a 19-31 record last year, good for No. 10 in the Pac-12. Washington also displayed some mighty struggles offensively and ranked last in the conference in hits (442), batting average (.248), and OPS (.731).
🚨BREAKING: @UW_Baseball is hiring Eddie Smith as its new head coach, @d1baseball has learned. Smith, who spent time at #LSU, #UVA, #NotreDame #Tulane, spent the last three seasons as the HC for @UVUbsb. Smith takes over for Jason Kelly.https://t.co/u2A1zbnfnT pic.twitter.com/0osZPdWjhd
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) July 9, 2024