Indiana University Athletics
Around the Horn with Tracy Smith
8/31/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 31, 2005
Tracy Smith was named head baseball coach at Indiana on June 22 after spending the last nine seasons at Miami (Ohio). Smith amassed a 317-220-1 (.589) career record and a Mid-American Conference regular-season mark of 152-95 (.615). He led the RedHawks to eight straight 30-win seasons, marking only the second time in program history that Miami accomplished that feat, and he finished his career in Oxford third on the all-time wins list.
Smith sat down with IUHOOSIERS.com to discuss his first two months in Bloomington, meeting with the players for the first time and other important topics.
On his time in Bloomington thus far:
"It has been good. I'm dealing with things on two fronts. I'm attempting to get my situation straightened out at the office and with my baseball family. On the other front, I'm attempting to get my situation settled at home with my family and getting the kids off to school. It's been busy but now after moving here and settling down, it feels more real."
On starting fall workouts with the team:
"We met the team for the first time on Saturday. Until now, you are looking at all these guys as names on paper. I think it will be good to get out there and start working with these guys in an athletic sense. It will be a nice relief to get out of the office and see what they can do."
On his expectations:
"Our expectations are simple. We want to win. I hear we lost a lot of close games, and we need to improve on that. Losing is contagious just like winning is contagious. We need to instill and talk about winning and not be afraid to talk about winning and wanting to win championships. That needs to be discussed as a realistic goal. One of the things we want these guys to understand is that we are not out here to go through the motions. We are not out here to compete in the Big Ten. We are here to win the Big Ten. That was something we discussed at our team meeting. "
On the team:
"I think we have guys that are hungry and looking for a fresh start. That is not taking away anything from previous years, but fact is fact, and we haven't had a lot of success here in recent years. I think guys are ready for that to change, particularly the seniors. They want to go out with a winning experience, and I think they are ready to do that and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to do just that."
On his coaching philosophy:
"Keep it simple. We are not into a bunch of gadgets or trickery. Baseball has been around for a long time. You have to hit it, you have to catch it, and you have to field it. We're going to preach doing those things and do them well. It's a very simple game when you break it down. We will pay attention to detail and make sure we are fundamentally sound. We'll spend a lot of time teaching the game. Pitching and defense is going to be the main focus of our team. We're going to try and lock up as many quality arms as we can."
On his coaching staff:
"(Hitting coach) Micah Nori is getting back into baseball. I talk about surrounding myself with good people, and Micah is a good person. Micah is enthusiastic and ready to get started again. He is a total baseball guy, very knowledgeable, a solid individual, and I think the kids are going to connect with him right from the get-go.
"(Pitching coach) Ty Neal is a young guy with a lot of experience and a lot of success. You'll see immediate results, not only from a performance standpoint, but also from a conditioning standpoint. He's a proven winner, and he's a proven successful pitching coach.
"I enjoy having (volunteer assistant) Ted Tom. It's been good for us having him around to help us out. He wants to learn about this profession. Not only does he have a good work ethic, but he is very enthusiastic about learning how to do things and hopefully advancing in this profession."
On the best part of the job thus far:
"What has really jumped out is the attitude of the people in the athletics department. It is like a family. People are very friendly. I just love the entire community."
