Andrew Smith Earns 100th Career Win

Chaffey College Baseball Head Coach Andy Smith recently celebrated his 100th career win. In his fourth season leading the program, Smith reflects on his journey, the initial inspiration for his coaching career, and his evolution as a coach.

The Panthers are currently in first place in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference with a 26-8-1 overall record (16-4 conference). 

Question: 100 wins is a great accomplishment, with many more to come, besides the wins, what is the most important thing you carry with you when you coach?
Answer: Having good people around me is the most important thing. This isn’t a job you can do effectively by yourself. You need people beside you supporting the overall mission, and I have some great assistant coaches that go above and beyond what they are asked of, because they care about our guys, and they care about the mission we have here as a program. The wins are simply a byproduct of the five most important words: “surround yourself with good people.”

Question: Often serving as a secondary father figure to some, outside of what you tell them on the field, what do you tell them off the field. 
Answer: Yeah this job is much more than X’s and O’s. I don’t take for granted that I’m in a position to make an impact on these guys in some capacity. So I care about making sure it’s a positive impact. Pursuing excellence and building championship caliber habits on and off the field are things we promote consistently here. 

Question: Are there any games, or season, that you will always remember. 
Answer: I remember every game from every season. Some details more than others. Some for better reasons than others. But every game I’ve coached I can recount the reasons we won or lost, what the feeling of the dugout/team was that day, and something I could learn from. Especially the losses.

Question: Historical perspective: What made you get into coaching? And why? 
Answer:  My dad instilled in me at an early age to do something I love, not just for the money. I always had a unique but passionate relationship with the game of baseball, and I guess I always had a curious/analytical mind. When I finished playing, there wasn’t something else I felt passionate towards, and the door was opened for me to start coaching. I immediately loved it and became a fascination of mine. Not just the strategy, but the psychology, the relationships, the culture building, etc. 

Question: You win some and you lose some, do losses hurt just as much as it did when you first got started?
Answer: No not at all. When I was starting out, I took the losses a lot more personally. I took them as an indictment on myself as a coach. But that’s just immaturity and insecurity. After my second year, I developed more confidence that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, and losses are just part of the journey. But don’t get me wrong, I’m still extremely competitive and want to win. But I care more now about the process of building winners than the score at the end of one game. 

Question: What’s the toughest thing about coaching and what is the most enjoyable? 
Answer:  I can playfully say the paycheck is the toughest part of coaching as a part-time coach! But besides that, there are a lot of unique challenges that come from caring deeply for your players and wanting them to succeed. Figuring out how to handle situations where they are not making good decisions for their lives, not meeting expectations, and responding to that appropriately. Trying to speak to the heart of the individual, it takes time. And Ive gotten it wrong plenty.

The most enjoyable part is seeing the guys have success and their hard work pay off. Seeing them get opportunities to continue the career and education at the next level in life changing ways for them and their family is really special.

Question: What has been the biggest change in the game that you have seen, is it for good or worse?
Answer:  It’s more dynamic and less nuanced. There’s a higher focus on the physicality of the game and less focus on the details of the game. I wouldn’t say it’s for better or worse. It’s just different. There are more exciting elements to it like Ohtani doing superhuman things, but also negative effects like a higher rate of injury, strikeouts, and so on. Life is about adapting and evolving. Baseball is no different.