Tracy Smith as UM baseball coach: it's official
Just announced. Here's the article on Michigan's website.
https://mgoblue.com/news/2022/7/3/tracy-smith-announced-as-michigan-baseball-coach.aspx
Real good dude and will be a good hire. Baseball will be in good hands with him. He knows how to identify talent. Worked with him at IU.
I'm shocked there isn't a front page article up yet!
Get on it boys!
(Sarcasm)
They guy hasn’t won one game as a Michigan head coach.
edit /s
Looking forward to some June baseball for years to come
Not sure about this hire… Tracy doesn’t sound manly enough to coach the baseballs!
He’ll be all right, as long as he doesn’t start crying. Because we all know that’s not allowed in baseball.
Welcome to Michigan, Tracy!
For some reason down here in KS there are a lot of guys named Tracy. A lot of 6'6 big farm boys you would not want to say that in front of them.
Welcome aboard coach. I hope you become the greatest baseball coach of all time in A2. Go Blue!
I hope he is good, but I am not very excited about this hire. He had 2 losing seasons at ASU right before his best season of 38-19 which is a .661. His predecessors were .751, .713, .689, and .681. His tenure had a major drop to .565. To be fair, the coach that replaced him is .448. I would much rather see an up-and-coming coach with promise than a coach that's shown to be mediocre so far. I truly hope I am wrong, but I don't see a hire that is any cause to get excited about.
Maybe coaching in the loaded Pac12 will translate to dynamite performance in the B1G, but until it happens, I'm not banking on it and can only hope.
I wouldn’t say he’s shown to be mediocre. He was a good coach at two Midwestern schools (Miami (OH) and Indiana) and went out west and was subpar at ASU.
Simple explanation could just be that he wasn’t a good fit out West. He has over 800 wins under his belt and a career .567 winning percentage. Turning Miami and Indiana into much better programs than they were when he took over.
I’m not saying he’s an A+ hire by any means, but “shown to be mediocre” isn’t really an accurate assessment either. He’s a good coach that is coming to coach Michigan in what is essentially a mid-major conference. A mid-major conference that he finished top 3 in during 4 of his 9 seasons at Indiana.
This is about where I am at. It's a guy who has had success and recruited the Midwest. He will win the big10 a few times in the next 10 to 15 years because bakich left a good foundation and smith is a good coach.
I am disappointed that it's not bischel because that guys a star.
Smith is a solid hire who will work hard, win a lot of games, and leave the program in a good position.
The only thing about Bischel is that everyone is passing him over right now. I don’t know why that is, but it seems like it would be for a good reason.
Very true. But someone is going to get a guy who just wins.
Maybe he has a nazi memorabilia collection, Or some crazy stuff. I have no clue why places pass.
I have my thought, and that is that he's different from your usual "jock" coach. I have mentioned this before, but he was an accountant. The conversation with bischel will not be like talking to a harbaugh, Ryan Day, coach Howard, or even hutch. The guy is different.
If there are real skeletons, than good on michigan for passing and bad on cmu for keeping him. But my thought is that the AD community is similar to the traditional coach community and they do not realize what is in front of them.
Just another problem with the interview process in my opinion.
38-19 which is a .661
no, it’s .667
Trouble with the Pac Ten, you say? And USC and UCLA are coming to the conference?? Uh, oh. /s
But here's the trajectory of the previous guy's .681:
Good news. I wonder if Warde and Smith discussed his salary before joining the program.
Boo. But think the comment was funny
How does this program succeed without ‘Fire Bakich’ posts during deep tourney runs? Smith has big shoes to fill! I will be cheering for him and the team, no doubt.
By the way, it's official, Debbie Downer can't have children.
Fire Tracy!
too soon?
/snark.
Here's to a great tenure here, coach. Let's get some runs!
We know he can win the B10 and get to the CWS, so a strong hire in my mind.
He was about the only realistic option if Michigan were to go the “proven commodity” route. Nobody else has his resume.
He’s the “high floor” hire and I don’t really think that’s a bad move when you have a limited program. But there’s quite a hole to dig out of with the recruiting class falling apart and starters transferring.
#FireBakich
Fire Smith!
No. You can't manufacture it--it's got to start organically with, for instance, a dumb shortsighted post demanding his firing just before the team makes the finals of the CWS.
Yuck
Fire Smith!
?
He's proven. It's a safe hire if not a sexy one. He won at IU, so I expect he'll do the same here. The CMU guy, Bischel, has been a passed over a bunch, so I get Michigan passing as well. He clearly does not interview well, or something is coming up in background checks. Brdar is barely older than the players, and the others are longtime assistants and thus unproven in running programs. Smith gets the challenges of running a program up north where southern assistants wouldn't off the bat. Good hire...
Certainly not a splashy hire or very inspiring, but we will see!