Anderson calls a press conference after Tracy Smith says he will back

A day after Arizona State baseball coach Tracy Smith said he would be returning in 2019, ASU Vice President of University Athletics Ray Anderson has announced he will hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to “discuss the future of Sun Devil baseball.”

The Sun Devils wrapped a second-straight losing season on Saturday with a 3-0 loss to Cal, the first time in program history the team has finished below .500 in consecutive years (ASU went 23-32 in both 2017 and 2018) Smith also has the worst winning percentage for a coach in program history, compiling just a 117-110 mark in his first four years at the school.

The two-year slump has left a large portion of ASU’s passionate fan base upset, including many who have called for Smith’s job on social media. But the Sun Devil skipper, who led the team to the NCAA tournament in his first two seasons in 2015 and 2016, insisted he would be back in the dugout next spring.

“Yeah,” Smith said when asked if he had received assurances of a fifth season as coach from Anderson and the school’s administration. “But I won’t steal his thunder. I’ll let him speak his own words on that, but yeah.”

Usually, when an athletic director holds a press conference just days after an unsuccessful season, it’s bad news for a struggling coach. But it would be a surprise if Anderson did anything but offer Smith a vote of confidence when he meets with the media on Tuesday, a move that would kill the speculation about Smith’s job security for the summer.

Last month, Smith and Anderson both spoke publicly about the program and Smith’s job performance. At that time, Smith said his job security was “not even a concern.” Anderson told the Speak of the Devils Podcast, “I think Tracy, in the things that I’m looking for, is doing a fine job.”

In his final postgame press conference of the season on Saturday, Smith said he understood fan frustration over the team’s win-loss record but insisted he and administration are on the same page, that the plan all along was the play a young, promising roster and let them develop.

Growing pains were unavoidable, Smith said, though he wasn’t anticipating the team’s crippling defensive issues and inconsistent command on the mound, deficiencies that cost the Sun Devils games all year long.

“We’ve been in this thing together from day one,” Smith said of his relationship with administration. “They’ve been informed on a lot of stuff that (people outside the program) don’t know. It takes time. You keep people informed as to what your plan is, what you’re doing.”

Smith also said on Saturday that he isn’t one to fear for his job security and that any hot seat speculation has not factored into his coaching decisions.

“There’s no decisions that are made in here that are short-term on job preservation,” Smith said. “I have no fear of losing my job. I think if people go down that path, you start making silly decisions that don’t benefit what should be benefitted.”

Smith said he and Anderson have met on an every-other-week basis during the season and that he keeps in constant contact with other program administrators. Prior to Saturday’s game, Anderson was seen chatting with Smith and ASU hitting coach Ben Greenspan on the field at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

“ASU pays me a salary to go out and build this thing,” Smith said. “My reputation is as a builder and we are still doing that.”