Smitty Comes Home : Former Loyola Assistant Chris Smith Returns to Coach the Lions Nine and Being Back Has Been Like a Family Reunion

The cover of the Loyola Marymount baseball yearbook says most of what you need to know about the school’s relationship with first-year Coach Chris Smith.

There’s a picture of him with his back turned, “SMITH” emblazoned above his uniform number, addressing a group of players. The caption reads, “Smitty’s Back.”

Corny, maybe, but it captures the family feeling the school has for Smith, and vice versa. After a year away, managing in the minor leagues, Smith couldn’t wait to get home . Smith and Loyola are as comfortable as a good fielder and his favorite glove.

And after replacing Dave Snow, the program builder whom he served as an assistant, Smith hasn’t missed a beat in keeping the Lions in the top 20 and in contention for postseason play.

The Lions go into their season-ending four-game series at Pepperdine on Friday ranked 14th, with a 35-19 record. They lead the West Coast Athletic Conference at 17-2, a half-game better than the Waves at 17-3.

In some ways it was like he had never left. Smith had recruited many of the players he inherited from Snow, and the team plays a high-scoring, aggressive game similar to the style Snow favored in his four seasons there when he guided the Lions to a Phoenix-like rise into the college baseball elite.

In fact, Smith’s biggest problem since taking the reins may have been trying to move out from under the shadow of his friend and mentor. Snow, who unexpectedly resigned from Loyola in June to move to Cal State Long Beach, got off to a 18-0 start and top 10 ranking with the lightly regarded 49ers. Smith, whose Lions were nationally ranked in preseason polls, saw his team stumble to a 1-7 start.

“I think the adjustment came in personality, because we’re different,” Smith said in an interview last week. “I think that’s where the problems came, early. (The team and I) had to grow up together, get to know each other. Now it’s our turn to win some games. I’ve been associated with Snow for so long, it’s always been Dave Snow with Chris Smith. He’s my best friend. But this is my team, and now it’s my turn.”

And lately the folks around Loyola have liked what they’ve seen. After the slow start, the Lions began slugging the ball--Smith has always been associated with hard-hitting teams--and started knocking off ranked clubs, building steam for the start of West Coast Athletic Conference play.

And the stocky Smith, one of the youngest head coaches in Division I at 30, is described by Loyola players and administrators as easier to get along with and less demanding than Snow, whose moods ranged from outgoing to gruff.

Athletic Director Brian Quinn, who hired Smith, said, “There’s always a little bit of heat you take--people want to compare. (Starting the season) we had a whole new infield and we played a very tough schedule. There were a lot of question marks, regardless of whether Snow or Smith was there. I don’t know that (the record) would have been any different. You could feel (victories) coming--we lost a lot of one-run games. There was no panic there. I was totally confident in Chris and the baseball team.”

Despite Smith’s relative youth--he goes back a decade with Snow--those who know him discount the age factor as a drawback. “Experience is a great teacher,” Smith said. “I don’t think it’s any more important than work ethic and enthusiasm. I like to believe my best quality is my work ethic.”

Quinn, who played baseball at Loyola in the early 1960s, said Smith “packed an awful lot of baseball into that youth. He had been around the game a long time.”

Said Snow: “He’s got such a great personality and work ethic, I knew he could be a great coach if he directed himself that way. He plays a good, solid, aggressive game. He’s a very knowledgeable young man.”

Smith grew up in Long Beach, then began his collegiate career as an outfielder at Oklahoma State. After one season, he transferred to L.A. Valley College where he earned all-state honors playing for Snow. From there he moved on to UCLA where he was an All-Pac-10 Conference outfielder as a senior in 1981.

However, while in college Smith suffered a series of shoulder injuries. His hope of playing professionally was dashed. “Like everyone who’s played, I would’ve liked a shot at the big leagues. I knew my chances were shot after the second operation,” Smith said. Even attempts by Snow to get him a tryout were unsuccessful. Unlike many, however, Smith had another plan--coaching.

So Smith became a community college assistant coach. The next spring, Valley won the state title. Snow was offered an assistant’s job by Augie Garrido at Cal State Fullerton, and asked Garrido to make it package deal. The pair went to Fullerton and helped lead the Titans to the national title in 1984. The next spring Snow was hired at Loyola, with Smith in tow. By 1986 they had Loyola playing in the College World Series.

“I wanted to be a college coach,” Smith said. “I’m doing what I hoped to be doing--I always wanted to be a major college head coach. How many people in this world can say, ‘I’m doing what I want to do, where I want to be doing it?’ Snow gave me the opportunity to coach right out of college.”

“He just had such a tremendous love for the game,” Snow said. “I knew he wanted to stay with the game. When I went to Fullerton, I said I wouldn’t go unless I could bring Chris. It proved to be a good learning ground for him, and it was good for us too.”

Smith, meanwhile, got his master’s degree in education and was priming himself for a head coaching job, managing college players in semipro summer leagues. But he was shot down several times when jobs opened.

“I think my age worked against me,” he said. After three years with Snow, Smith turned to the pros and became a manager in the Angels farm system at Salem, Ore. A year later the Loyola job opened. Smith applied and hoped his year’s absence hadn’t hurt his chances. Quinn’s choice came down to Smith and another young Snow assistant, Bill Springman.

Smith’s affection for college baseball and Loyola in particular are unmistakable and helped sway Quinn. At a press conference to announce his hiring, Smith lauded the virtues of the college environment over the rigors of life in the lower levels of pro ball.

Quinn said, “One of the things that impressed me in the selection process was he said, ‘I’ll move to Westchester, I’ll be part of the community.’ As soon as he was hired he bought a house here. He’s committed to that, he’s committed to being a college coach, he’s committed to being here.

“He’s a great guy. He’s easy to get along with. He takes the grades seriously. He disciplines the kids accordingly. That’s very important to us.”

After a year coaching first-year pros, Smith said, “I like the college environment, for family reason No. 1. Pro ball is exciting. I’m glad I did it as an experience, but in the college situation you’re at home. In pro ball you’re on buses.

“(In college) you get to bring in an 18-year-old kid, you get to develop him, see his career grow. You see ‘em turn into successful people, whether in baseball or business. They come back, you see them. In the pros, if someone has success he moves up right away. In college you play to win but there’s enthusiasm, there’s camaraderie, there’s more going on than just baseball. You get to form a relationship. Pro ball is a great opportunity for some players. Others belong in college.”

As Snow’s assistant, Smith coordinated recruiting, worked with the outfielders and coached hitting. Loyola’s Page Stadium favors power hitters, especially from the right side, so Smith continues to bring in and develop good hitters. With a little more speed, he said, he would also run more. As it is, the Lions have stolen more bases than any other conference team except Pepperdine.

“You’ve somewhat gotta recruit to this park,” he said. “I love to run. In pro ball I was a madman. We ran a lot . (But) running’s a game you can slow down. Augie Garrido told me, ‘I can bring in a left-hander and stop your runners. But there’s nothing you can do about a three-run homer.’ In this park you want to hit.”

In forging a conference title drive, Smith has borrowed a bit from his teachers and added his own stamp and maintained the team closeness Snow instilled.

“Team chemistry probably can make you a special team more than anything else. I really believe in chemistry. Teams with good chemistry find ways to win,” he said.

While nearly everyone around the program is comfortable with the young coach, his easygoing personality does not necessarily translate to undemanding. He has high expectations and is not above chewing out the team after a lackluster performance, even if they won.

Snow noted, “It’s a big transition becoming head coach. All of a sudden you’re responsible for everything. I’m sure he’s learning this year. You’re looking at things from a different perspective. I’m sure he will lead the program in a positive direction.”

Said Smith: “I’ve been awfully lucky that I got a chance to coach with a Dave Snow, then Augie Garrido. Now I think it’s my turn. There’s a lot of different ways to win. Hopefully my way will be successful too.”