March 17, 2002

Go to the Chat

WACO, Texas - At 2 p.m. CT on Monday, March 18, Baylor baseball coach Steve Smith will make a special visit to talk about the team's play so far this season.

Smith is in his eighth season as head coach at Baylor in 2002, in his first seven seasons at the helm, Baylor compiled a 262-154-1 record. Smith led the Bears to their first-ever 50 win season in 1999 and a Big 12 Championship in 2000, and has piloted the team to four straight NCAA appearances. Through the 2001 season, Smith ranked 40th among active coaches in winning percentage with a .629 mark.

The 2000 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Smith came to Baylor from Mississippi State, where he was an assistant under Ron Polk for five seasons. Prior to that, he served as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M. A former standout pitcher at Baylor in 1982-1983, Smith led the Southwest Conference with a 1.72 ERA as a junior, bettering league foes and future major leaguers Norm Charlton, Roger Clemens, Doug Drabek and Calvin Schiraldi.

An accomplished pitching coach, Smith has tutored five pitchers in the last 10 years who were selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. He has also had at least one pitcher named to the all-conference first team in each of the last 10 years. In 1999, right-hander/designated hitter Jason Jennings won the Golden Spikes Award as the best player in college baseball and was the 16th overall pick by the Colorado Rockies.

In Smith's seven full seasons as head coach, the Bears have produced three first-round draft picks, eight all-Americans, five GTE/CoSIDA Academic all-Americans, one GTE/CoSIDA Academic all-American of the Year, 21 first-team all-conference performers, three freshman all-Americans, and three conference players of the year. Baylor has also placed 25 players on the Academic All-Big 12 first team in the past five seasons.

While Smith won't be stopping by until 2 p.m. CT on Monday, feel free to submit your questions now and we will save them for his arrival.