(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball has extended the contract of Head Coach Tracy Smith for two more years, according to Sun Devil Source. His contract was set to expire at the end of the 2021 season.
The Arizona Board of Regents is scheduled to review the contract extension in their virtual meetings on Feb. 11 before it becomes official.
Smith will not receive a pay raise in his initial contract but his bonuses will increase. If ASU reaches the College World Series, he will receive a $40,000 bonus, up from $20,000 in his previous deal. If ASU wins the CWS, he will receive a $50,000 bonus, up from $25,000.
Smith has a 168-133 record since joining the Sun Devils prior to the 2015 season. His best season came in 2019 when he led the Sun Devils to a 38-19 record and an NCAA Regional berth.
ASU was ranked seventh in the nation prior to the season’s cancellation in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In his tenure as head coach, the 2013 National Coach of the Year has seen 25 Sun Devils drafted into Major League Baseball. He is one of eight college baseball coaches to lead three different Division I programs to the NCAA Tournament.
Smith has also upped the ante in terms of recruiting at ASU. He signed the nation’s top recruiting class in 2016, which included eight players who had been drafted out of high school. For four of the last five years, ASU has had a Top-10 recruiting class, according to Collegiate Baseball News.
As far as Smith’s prospects for the upcoming season set to start Feb. 19, he thinks they’ll be a different team than in years past.
“We’re gonna be a different team, and we always start with the pitching,” Smith commented. “We like what we’ve seen so far on the pitching side of it.”
ASU will begin its season with a four-game series versus San Jose State at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Feb. 19.
