Ben Smith—William Carey University Baseball
Ben Smith is entering his 15th season as the assistant baseball coach at William Carey. Smith, a Laurel, MS native, first arrived at William Carey in 2004 as an infielder/pitcher out of Laurel High School. In his playing time with the Crusaders, he was a member of the 2005 GCAC Championship team and 2 NAIA Regional teams (2005 and 2007).
Smith joined the Crusader baseball coaching staff in the fall of 2008 and helped lead the Crusaders to a GCAC Championship and NAIA National Tournament in his first season in 2009.
In 2010, Smith became the first ever coach of the Men's and Women's Cross Country teams at William Carey. He continued to split time between baseball and cross country for five years. In 5 years of coaching cross country, WCU produced two NAIA All-Americans, 3 SSAC Individual Conference Champions, and 14 All-SSAC runners. Smith's 2014 Men's Cross Country team won the SSAC Championship and advanced to the NAIA National Championship. Smith was awarded with the 2014 SSAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year honor.
In 2011, Smith took over the WCU pitching staff and coached Carey pitchers through 2019. The Crusaders had several All-SSAC selections during this time, as well as one MLB Draft pick. In 2013, the Crusader staff posted a 3.57 ERA and Carey hosted an NAIA Opening Round. In 2016, the Crusaders returned to the NAIA National Tournament and finished runner-up in the Santa Barbara Opening Round after posting 40 wins for the first time since 2004.
In 2017, Smith helped lead the Crusaders to an NAIA Opening Round Championship and a berth in the 2017 NAIA World Series where the Crusaders finished 3rd, the highest finish at William Carey since 1969. The 2018 Crusaders, once again, finished runner-up after hosting an NAIA Opening Round, falling one game shy of a repeat trip to the NAIA World Series.
In 2021 and 2022, Smith helped lead the Crusaders to back to back SSAC Championships and NAIA Regional appearances while working with infielders/hitters and coaching first base.
Outside of athletics, during the Covid shutdown in 2020, Smith started an outdoor blog titled “Pinstripes to Camo” to detail his transition from being a coach to an outdoorsman. Soon the blog grew into a weekly outdoor column that is published in multiple newspapers throughout the state today. In 2021, Smith launched the “Pinstripes to Camo” Podcast which currently reaches thousands of people weekly. In June 2021, Smith’s column was awarded as the #1 Weekly Sports Column in Mississippi by the Mississippi Press Association. Smith also serves as a History Instructor in the William Carey University School of Arts and Letters.
Smith earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from William Carey in 2008 and a Master of Education in 2012. He is an active member of Temple Baptist Church in Oak Grove. He and his wife, Amy, have been married for 12 years and have three daughters (Mackenzie-11, Collins-7, and Allie-3).