The University of Mississippi Athletics
Softball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Year at Ole Miss:
- Fifth
- E-mail:
- msmithsb@olemiss.edu
- Phone:
- 662-915-7186
- Alma Mater:
- The Master's College (1992)
On May 29, 2014, Mike Smith was announced as the fifth head coach of the Ole Miss softball program. Since, the record books have been rewritten and the Rebels have reached heights never before seen both on and off the diamond.
The turnaround started immediately, with the Rebels tying the school wins record in Smith's inaugural season in Oxford before breaking it the next season and resetting it again the following year. Achieving a winning record just twice in the program's first 18 seasons, Ole Miss has done so in each of Smith's five campaigns, topping 30 wins each year with three 40+ win seasons. Smith has guided the Rebels to the program's only four NCAA Tournament appearances, advancing to the Super Regional round in 2017 and 2019.
Picked to finish 12th out of 13 in the SEC, Smith's 2019 squad not only defied all expectations for itself but put together arguably the greatest season in the history of Rebel softball. The year's greatest hits included Smith's 900th career win as a head coach, a 41-20 overall record, a program record fifth place finish in the SEC standings, 14 wins over ranked opponents, five victories over Women's College World Series participants, four honorees on the All-SEC team, a dramatic Regional Championship win in Oxford and Ole Miss' highest ever finish in the final NFCA Coaches Poll at No. 15.
Starting the season with an 8-6 record, the Rebels went on to win 33 of its next 47 games, including 15-straight non-conference victories. Never having finished higher than eighth in the conference standings in their previous 22 seasons, the Rebels remained in the hunt for the SEC Championship all the way through the season's final weekend, ultimately achieving a fifth-place finish. In fact, Ole Miss was the only team in the league to enter the season's final weekend without losing an SEC series.
All of those accomplishments paid off on Selection Sunday as Ole Miss earned the right to host the second NCAA Regional in three years in Oxford. After falling to No. 7 Louisiana earlier in the regional, the Rebels handed the Ragin' Cajuns two of its six total losses for the season in one day, storming back in the seventh inning of a winner-take-all game to walk off with a Regional Championship and reserve a spot in Super Regionals. The run would come to and end the next week as the Rebels' were defeated by No. 6 seed Arizona in Tucson.
In the meantime, a plethora of postseason awards started to roll in for Smith's bunch. Kylan Becker became the second player in Ole Miss history to be named NFCA All-America, receiving a First Team nod in addition to First Team All-America laurels from Softball America. Becker was joined on the NFCA All-South Region squad by pitcher Molly Jacobsen. A program record four Rebels were named All-SEC, with Becker landing on the First Team, Jacobsen being tabbed to the Second Team, Tate Whitley garnering All-Freshman Team recognition and Kaylee Horton become the school's first-ever All-Defense Team honoree.
Coming into the 2018 season with a target on their back after 2017's SEC Tournament title and postseason run to Super Regionals, Smith's squad didn't flinch. The Rebels racked up 32 wins on the season, including victories over ranked sides Oregon, South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State and Georgia. Ole Miss capped the season by receiving a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight year, the only three appearances in the program's history.
The Rebels received numerous accolades throughout the season in 2018. Prior to kicking off the campaign, Rebel outfielders Kylan Becker and Elantra Cox became the program's first-ever USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top-50 Watch List honorees, also collecting Preseason All-SEC laurels. Becker also became the first Rebel to ever dawn the stars and stripes, being selected to the US National Team. Meanwhile, Cox finished out the season with her third-straight NFCA All-South Region recognition, becoming the first player in program-history to earn the honor three times.
Offensively, Smith's Rebels set school records in team doubles (67), triples (23), RBIs (284), stolen bases (128), while the pitching staff's 360 strikeouts shattered the previous high mark of 323. Kylan Becker set career records for triples with 16, breaking the single season records for triples (9), runs (55) and steals (34). Meanwhile, sophomore Abbey Latham's 54 runs driven in were more than any player in program-history, breaking the record with a towering grand slam in the Rebels' SEC Tournament victory over rival Mississippi State.
The 2017 edition, with many of the same players from 2016’s team, didn’t settle for just a turnaround. They wanted more, and got more. Ole Miss put together a 43-win season, topping the 2016 wins record by two, and won seven of its final 12 SEC contests to rebound from an 0-6 start. After a 10th-place pick in the SEC Preseason Poll, the Rebels rallied to finish eighth and earn the No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament.
But, the seeding didn’t faze them, as they went on to top Mississippi State, shock No. 1 Florida, top No. 15 Alabama for the third time, and eventually beat No. 21 LSU for the fourth time to claim the school’s first-ever SEC Tournament title. That feat earned them the No. 12 national seed in the NCAA Tournament to host the first-ever NCAA Regional in Oxford. After a clean sweep there, Smith’s Rebels headed west to take on No. 5 UCLA, falling in two one-run games to cap yet another historic season.
For the second-straight year, three of Smith’s players earned NFCA All-South Region honors, as Cox picked up First Team accolades for the second consecutive year. Becker and Lee were named Third Team selections. Becker, a rising star in the outfield, became the school’s first ever All-SEC First Team selection, while Lee picked up Second Team All-SEC honors. Freshman Morgan Bruce became the school’s first ever pitcher to earn All-Freshman Team honors.
Smith and his staff earned one of the top coaching awards in college softball, being named the NFCA Regional Staff of the Year for the South Region, also a first-time honor in school history.
The 2016 edition of the Ole Miss Softball team won 41 games en route to the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The road there was peppered with highlights as well, as the Rebels tied the school record for SEC wins at 11 and advanced to the SEC Tournament for the fifth time after being picked 12th in the preseason poll. But, they didn’t just qualify for the tournament. This time, the Rebels came up a winner as the program claimed its first ever SEC Tournament win thanks to a 4-2 victory over No. 15 Georgia on May 11.
Long before Ole Miss’ deep run in the postseason was a regular season that started well, and featured many team and individual high points along the way. Smith’s group started out 8-2, the first team to do so, before going on a school record 12-game win streak from Feb. 24 to March 9. The Rebels also put together a 15-game non-conference win streak, which was also a school record.
Through the first 23 games of the campaign, Ole Miss had only lost three times, the fastest start in program history for the diamond Rebs. Then 28 games in, the Rebels’ win total already topped nine of the previous season’s win totals in the 20-year history of the program, still with the last half of the season left to play.
Along the way, Smith earned his 800th career win as a head coach in a midweek victory over Central Arkansas on March 15. His squad debuted in the crucial NCAA RPI at No. 29, and eventually rose to 27th where they finished, also highest in school history.
Smith’s squad snapped multiple streaks to longtime SEC powerhouses, including defeating Georgia for the first time in 13 years, as well as snapping a seven year skid to Tennessee to cap the miraculous regular season that ended at 38-19 overall and 11-13 in league action.
In NCAA Regional action, the Rebels were victorious in game one for their first ever NCAA Tournament win in their first try, and went on to top Wichita State as well.
All season, thanks to the team’s success under Smith, record-breaking crowds showed up at the Ole Miss Softball Complex en route to a record-breaking year for attendance.
The season total attendance of 13,506 across 29 home contests shattered the previous record by 6,000-plus, and seven of the top ten crowds in program history all came in 2016. Seven of the Rebels’ final nine SEC games at home resulted in record crowds, including a program best 1,410 against No. 9 Tennessee on May 7.
On the field, the team finished the historic campaign with 11 wins against top-50 RPI squads, six of which came away from home, and achieved its highest RPI in recorded history of No. 27. Of the 22 losses, 15 came against top-25 RPI teams, and the Rebels in some way appeared in the top-25 national polls nearly all season long, finishing No. 24 in the final ESPN.com/USA Today Poll for the first time in school history.
Smith coached three Rebels to NFCA All-Region honors, including sophomore outfielder Elantra Cox (First Team), freshman shortstop Hailey Lunderman (Second Team), and senior pitcher Madi Osias (Third Team). Lunderman was also a Top-10 Finalist for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Award, and earned All-Freshman SEC honors following her stellar season.
Thanks to the team’s best season to date, Smith was awarded a contract extension on June 7, ensuring he and Ole Miss’ commitment to the softball program for the long term future.
In Smith’s first season as a Rebel, Smith came up aces, tying the then school record for wins in a season and putting an offense on the field that rewrote the record books. The Rebels set every offensive record for a season, including batting average, runs scored, RBI, home runs, triples, walks, steals and both on base percentage and slugging percentage. Ole Miss also tied the school record for doubles in his first season.
Under his direction in year one, the Rebels advanced to the SEC Tournament for only the fourth time in school history and the first time since the 2008 season. The 30-wins tied the mark for wins in a year set in 2005 and gave Smith a winning record in his first year. Ole Miss also doubled its win total in Southeastern Conference play, tallying six wins which equaled the total number of conference wins in the previous two seasons combined.
He also coached outfielder Elantra Cox to Freshman All-SEC honors as she finished the regular season fourth in steals and seventh in the career record books with 30 in her debut campaign.
Smith came to Ole Miss after he led the McNeese State softball program to three-straight 30-plus win seasons in his three years with the Cowgirls. He led McNeese State to back-to-back Southland Conference regular season championships in 2013 and 2014, its first since 1994, and was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014.
The Cowgirls went 40-17 during the regular season in 2014, a school record for wins in a season, and posted a 3-1 record against Southeastern Conference opponents Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M. The Cowgirls finished the season with an RPI ranking of No. 46 and won the Southland Conference regular season title by 4.5 games with a 20-6 record.
In addition to Smith being named SLC Coach of the Year in 2014, the Cowgirls also had the conference's player of the year, hitter of the year and pitcher of the year. In all, the Cowgirls had nine players named to either the SLC first, second, third or honorable mention teams.
Under Smith's tutelage, the Cowgirls had two players named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I All-South Region team in outfielder Alanna DiVittorio and pitcher Jamie Allred.
DiVittorio, the Southland Conference player and hitter of the year, was the first player in program history to earn first team all-region honors. As a senior in 2014, DiVittorio broke a combined nine school and conference records.
Allred, the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year, earned second team all-region honors. She finished 2014 with a school-record 27 wins, as well as 10 shutouts.
Both players earned first team All-SLC honors this season and were each Capital One Academic All-District selections. DiVittorio was also named to the Capital One Academic All-America team, becoming just the second player in program history to earn the distinction.
In 2013, his second season with McNeese State, Smith had five players named to the All-SLC team and four named to the All-SLC Academic Team. On the field, the Cowgirls tied a then-program record with 38 wins, going 38-13.
In his first season with McNeese State in 2012, Smith led the Cowgirls to a 3-1 win over Arizona State, the defending national champions and preseason No. 1 team in the country at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona. McNeese State went on to go 34-21 that season.
Prior to McNeese State, Smith coached for eight seasons at California Baptist where he won the NAIA National Championship in 2009, and finished in the top-six in the country all eight years, including seven years finishing inside the top-four. The Lancers won their conference championship and advanced to the NAIA World Series all eight years, and won 60 or more games in each of Smith's final four seasons, concluding with a school-record 66 wins in 2011.
Smith was the interim head coach at UC Riverside prior to his time at California Baptist, and in the four years prior to that he served as head coach at Biola, where he won one league title, had a 50-win season and a 10th-place finish at the NAIA World Series.
In 2011, he served as the head coach of the USA team that played in the Prague International Softball Championships.
A graduate of The Master's College in Santa Clarita, California, Smith was a two-time all-district pitcher on the college baseball team and went on to play in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, reaching the Class AA level. He also played for a number of independent league teams from 1994 to 2001.
Smith was a Western Baseball League Pitcher of the Year with the Mission Viejo (Calif.) team in both 1997 and 1998, and in 2000 was the MVP of the WBL championship series with the St. George team.
Smith also served as a pitching coach for the Biola baseball team from 1996-1998, and was a teacher and coach at Heritage Christian School in Anaheim, California, from 1993-96, where he was head coach for baseball and boys and girls basketball teams, an assistant coach in football and an assistant athletic director.
A San Diego native, Smith and his wife, Ellen, have two children, Ashlee and Tyler.
