Arizona State baseball went somewhere it’s never been in 2017.

Statistically, last season could be considered the worst year in ASU baseball’s storied history. Not only did the team post the lowest winning percentage in program history with a record of 23-32, but several of its acclaimed streaks were snapped.

The streak of 54 consecutive seasons with at least 30 wins ended, leading to the second losing season in school history and first since 1985. And to add insult to injury for both players and fans, ASU was swept at home by rival Arizona for the first time since 1989. The end result was missing the postseason for the first time since 1999, not including when the program was ruled ineligible for the 2012 postseason.

Below is a look at what happened throughout ASU’s 2017 season, as well as the state of the program moving forward.

FIVE DEPARTURES IN A WEEK

There had been departures in coach Tracy Smith’s tenure at ASU, as there are at any college baseball program, but none more magnified than the five in a single week this past season.

After dropping two of three games at Oregon, ASU’s record was 19-22, its chances of achieving the 55th consecutive 30-win season in program history looking dimmer with each series loss. On Thursday, May 4, sophomore pitchers Zach Dixon and Chris Isbell each announced via Instagram that they were leaving the baseball program.

ASU lost to Stanford, 7-5, a day later, but it lost much more in the hours following. News broke on Saturday morning that junior center fielder Andrew Shaps had been dismissed from the team and junior outfielder Ryan Lillard had left on his own accord. Later in the day, news broke that redshirt senior Jackson Willeford, whose season had been marred by injury, had left the program.

Shaps said he was told he was being dismissed for “failure to buy into team culture.” Lillard said he defended Shaps immediately after the dismissal.

Upon walking into Smith’s office to talk to the coach, Lillard recalls, the two gave their sides on the topic and mutually agreed to part ways. Lillard said neither lost his cool during their meeting.

Prior to the departures, Lillard had started 21 games and was hitting .202 with two home runs, but his role had been reduced to mostly pinch-hitting opportunities. Willeford, who was expected to start at second base before sustaining a hamstring injury before the season opener, hit just .186 in 14 starts. Shaps, on the other hand, was hitting .299 with 17 RBIs and was tied for the team lead in homers with five.

“I guess part of it was just like being sick of the environment,” Lillard said in a phone interview about his decision to defend Shaps. “Just got to a point where I just stopped really caring about my own future, I guess. I wanted to stand up for a friend and the rest of the team too.”

Shaps said he failed two drug tests during his time at ASU, the latter coming before the 2017 season started and leading to a five-game suspension at the beginning of it. However, Sun Devil Athletics is not authorized to release this information due to NCAA regulations.

Following Shaps’ dismissal, Smith said he was “fed up” with the situation. However, Shaps said his largest issue was with Ty Smith, one of Tracy’s three sons who recently graduated from Indiana University — his father’s previous stop — and also played football while he attended the school.

Most recently, the two clashed on social media when Dixon, the pitcher, posted on Instagram saying he was leaving ASU baseball. Shaps commented in support of him. Shaps said Ty later took a screenshot of the comment, posted it on Twitter and criticized Shaps and other upperclassmen for their lack of leadership.

The tweet was later deleted. Tracy Smith said Shaps’ dismissal was in no way related to any of the social media quibble.

According to Shaps, he and Ty’s rocky relationship started in January when Shaps failed a conditioning test and Ty confronted him.

“He was like going off on me about how I’m supposed to be a leader and how it’s b-------- that I didn’t work over break to be in shape,” Shaps said. “He was getting in my face and this is like the first day I had ever met him. Then he told me he didn’t respect me because I didn’t fight him for that. I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t even care. I didn’t fight you because I don’t care.’”

Shaps and Lillard both said they didn’t see Ty much after that incident. Tracy Smith said he talked to his son about that incident and later denied him special access to the locker room, field or dugout because Ty works for The Legacy Agency, a professional sports agency.

Tracy said he and Ty sometimes lift weights together in ASU’s weight room and Ty sits with the rest of the Smith family in Tracy’s office during games. But given the NCAA violations that could arise, Tracy said allowing Ty special access to be around the players would be “professional suicide.” Furthermore, Tracy said his sons had always been around his teams, but he encouraged them not to socialize with his 2017 ASU squad.

Ty Smith was unavailable for comment for this story.

Not long after the five departures, Smith pulled in senior catcher Zach Cerbo to meet with him and the rest of the coaching staff. Smith said he had previously talked to everyone around the program who was in contact with Cerbo about the catcher’s attitude and behavior.

During the meeting, those staff members then gave their opinions directly to Cerbo.

“I didn’t bring him in to embarrass him, I didn’t bring him in to threaten him, I’m an educator,” Smith said. “I absolutely brought him in as I would bring anybody in, to help you see that this is how you’re being and we need a change of behavior. I think anybody in a leadership position, if you’re trying to help somebody, would do that.”

Cerbo declined comment for this story.

The five departures may have been concerning, but could they possibly have been magnified by a losing season where ASU baseball reached uncharted waters?

Smith said the departures are normal for any baseball program near finals week because teams are trying to trim rosters, especially because travel rosters are thinner than those of home series. Additionally, senior Sebastian Zawada had left the program in the middle of the season and Daniel Williams had been dismissed for “failure to buy into team culture,” but neither departure seemed to be highlighted.

According to Smith, five players from the 2013 recruiting class that included Cerbo eventually were cut, dismissed or transferred out of the program. Nine players from the original 2014 recruiting class, which included Lillard and junior infielder Andrew Snow, later departed the program.

Jake Peevyhouse, a former ASU outfielder from 2012-15, said the same type of departures happened under former ASU baseball coach Tim Esmay, but no one noticed because the team was winning and “none of the players ever tweeted about them.”

The outfielder recalled the story of Brandon Bonilla, a freshman left-handed pitcher with the Sun Devils in 2012. Bonilla was drafted out of high school, but instead chose the college route. During his freshman season at ASU, Peevyhouse remembers Esmay telling Bonilla he would need to start proving himself. According to Peevyhouse, Bonilla eventually left the program because he didn’t like the opportunity.

He likened Bonilla’s departure to what could have happened with Dixon, Isbell, Lillard, Willeford and Zawada.

“Players leaving like that, if they were pitching and playing well and everything was going good, they’d still be there,” Peevyhouse said in a phone interview.

DYSFUNCTIONAL

The word Smith used to describe his 2017 team was “dysfunctional.” The word seems fitting for the team’s on-field play as well as some of the off-field occurrences.

According to Lillard and Shaps, Smith would pull in underclassmen and warn them about spending too much time around the upperclassmen. Smith said he did pull in underclassmen throughout the season because he believes it’s an upperclassman’s duty to act as an “assistant coach who communicates the message loud and clear of what it means to be an ASU baseball player.”

Smith said he was concerned a few of this past season’s upperclassmen weren’t taking on that role.

“The expectation is as an upperclassman, you don’t just have the responsibility of taking care of yourself, you have the expectation of reaching out and taking care of younger guys,” he said. “Do I think it’s going to be better now? Absolutely. I think we’re going to have kids now that better represent the character and moral compass and responsibility and talent of what’s supposed to be at ASU. That’s not a slam on anyone, I’m just stating facts.”

The dysfunction also showed through during team activities. One such activity was the “Athlete/Non-Athlete” exercise. In this exercise, there are six categories: respect, discipline, integrity, mental toughness, humility and great teammate.

For example, an athlete is someone who excels in these areas and is teachable, humble and disciplined, among other positive qualities. A non-athlete is someone who makes excuses, is self-centered and brings others down with them.

Smith had each member of the team rate their teammates in each of these areas, as well as themselves. The purpose of the exercise is for the players to be introspective and reflect on the areas, Smith said.

“For example, if you have a guy who rates himself as an athlete, but yet he’s doing every single thing as a non-athlete,” Smith said. “So you don’t believe me as a coach, here’s how your teammates see you, and that can be very powerful information and it can be very corrective information.”

Shaps said he felt like Smith was “hypnotizing” most of the team and getting them to tell on their teammates. Outfielder Gage Canning, who Smith and his staff are building the program around, said he thought the activity was “more for the coaches,” but not in a malicious way.

Smith said the activity was anonymous so players wouldn’t run into trouble with their teammates, but he said he never read any of the submitted exercises.

“I don’t think they wanted to create a problem with it,” Canning said. “I think it was so the coaches got a feel for who people honestly thought were problems on the team.”

Lillard chose to write a letter instead of writing his scores at the end of the activity. He said that letter was the first time he told Smith about some of the things he disagreed with.

He didn’t remember the exact verbiage, but he said his letter went something like this:

“I think my teammates view me as an athlete because I stand up for them, but I could see why you could view me as a non-athlete at some points because I do question you, question a lot of things you say and do,” he wrote. “I question you pulling underclassmen into your office and telling them to stay away from (the upperclassmen).”

Lillard told Smith that hurt him “because I always pride myself on being a guy that those guys can go to and trust as a guy that can help them out with anything.” Lillard then wrote that “it’s hard for me to respect him as a leader when I see things like that going on.”

Smith said he never read the letter.

After getting swept at home by Cal State Fullerton in a midweek series, ASU faced another tough opponent in Long Beach State. Before the series opener, the Sun Devils debuted a pre-game ritual called the “Energy Circle” where the players huddled up and swayed around while someone stood in the center and riled them up. Think of a pre-game football huddle, but in the outfield.

The Sun Devils swept Long Beach State.

“That weekend was what felt to me and the other guys what ASU baseball is about,” Lillard said. “We played super confident, almost even cocky. It was really fun. We kicked their ass all weekend. I remember after that, we were all pumped up for the rest of the year.”

Canning said he was a bit indifferent to the Energy Circle.

“As long as our team is together doing one thing, I think it’s perfect,” he said. “It’s not like that’s my favorite because I don’t need that stuff to get fired up, but I was always happy our team was together.”

Lillard said the days following the series sweep were a good time for the program. Players were excited to go to practice and lift, and the environment was electric. But Lillard also remembers Smith calling a meeting that next week and saying he’d rather not have won a single game if it meant the team acted more modestly, specifically with its Energy Circle.

“I remember that just sucked all of the energy out of the locker room,” Lillard said.

But according to Smith, he was indifferent to the Energy Circle. However, he was against the team doing it in such a public fashion, which is why he suggested they do it in the tunnel or the locker room instead of in the outfield.

Additionally, Smith said the Energy Circle concerned him because he had watched his team practice since the fall and knew there would most likely be rough stretches ahead for the young group. His fears were validated as the team performed the pregame ritual against Oregon State, a series in which it was swept.

“You got to be really careful if you’re out there pounding your chest and carrying on in a boastful manner if you’re about to get your butt kicked or don’t win 30 games, then what’s it going to look like? You look like a bunch of buffoons,” he said.

When speaking about the Energy Circle, Smith drew from the “Athlete/Non-athlete” exercise in that one of an athlete’s most important qualities is that he’s humble. Although he’s never played the sport, Smith used a tennis analogy to symbolize what he wants his teams to be about.

“The guy where you’re hitting across the net and you make a great shot, but he just keeps returning it,” he said. “I don’t think we need to show off and be arrogant and disrespect our opponents, I just don’t think there’s a place for it.

“I’m fearful of the guy who just keeps his mouth shut and keeps coming at you.”

CULTURE CHANGE

There is always a transition period when a new coach takes over, but as a rising senior, former ASU outfielder Jake Peevyhouse was front and center when Tracy Smith was hired from Indiana in June 2014.

Peevyhouse had played for Tim Esmay during the first three years of his collegiate career and said while Esmay and Smith operated differently, neither was necessarily better than the other The main difference in the two coaches, Peevyhouse said, was their level of control on the players. Esmay was a bit lax, but Smith tended to be stricter.

He likened Smith’s mentality to that of a football coach.

“It’s his way or the highway and if you don’t buy into it, he’ll get rid of you,” Peevyhouse said. “I like that in a coach. You want your coach to be sure of himself and not ever question any of his decisions, and that’s how Skip is. That is one of the things I like about him.”

For example, players who were 21 or older could consume alcohol without punishment from Esmay. But once Smith took over, he outlawed drinking for anyone on the team, and Peevyhouse said he suspended players in multiple instances for violating the rule.

Peevyhouse said many of the older players didn’t appreciate Smith’s stricter style because it felt like they were “being watched by a parent,” but he didn’t necessarily disagree with it. He said the upperclassmen simply weren’t accustomed to it.

“He likes being more involved in knowing what each player’s doing outside of the field,” Peevyhouse said. “I don’t blame him for that, especially in Tempe, it’s not like there’s any shortage of ways for people to get in trouble there, so you do need that type of structure.

“That’s how you have to handle freshmen and younger guys at ASU because if you don’t, they will get in trouble, and there are no ifs, ands or buts about that.”

For Smith, allowing those of age to drink wasn’t going to set the correct standard.

“What you try to do is educate your kids that if they want to have a professional career in baseball, why wouldn’t they want their body in the best shape it can be? I’ll never subscribe to that,” Smith said. “Call me old school, call me whatever you want, but I don’t think that’s setting the right tone for them in being the best they can be and taking care of their bodies.”

Peevyhouse said he didn’t think upperclassmen were mistreated, but that Smith perhaps viewed them as a means of bridging the gap before his own recruiting classes arrived. Additionally, he said Smith might not have had enough time to get to know the older players.

Peevyhouse remembers Smith’s relationship with then-junior center fielder Johnny Sewald, who was eventually selected in the 14th round by the Houston Astros in the 2015 MLB Draft.

“I know he did not like Johnny at the beginning of the year at all, and that is because Johnny is very West Coast when it comes to mannerisms and body language and that was different for Skip, so he took that as a first impression of, ‘OK, this kid doesn’t care,’ when obviously everyone knows that was the opposite,” Peevyhouse said. “As the year was going, they got along.”

As of the MLB’s Opening Day, there were 12 Sun Devils on major league rosters, the most of any school in the country. ASU markets itself as “MLB U” and certainly has the numbers to back it up with greats like Reggie Jackson and Barry Bonds among the program’s alumni ranks.

While he respects and admires the program’s history, Smith said he wants to reduce the selfish vibe. Instead of being solely focused on advancing their careers, Smith wants players who are into achieving one common goal. And if they do that, he said the rest will work itself out for them.

Once recruits step on campus, Smith wants them focused on achieving something that hasn’t been done since 1981.

“One of the things that’s been communicated to is loud and clear is that you have to be selfish, this is MLB U,” Smith said. “Trust me, I understand that and part of our mission is that we’re developing these guys at a rate where they’re maximizing their opportunity and ability to play professional baseball.

“But the most important thing we want to hear out of a recruit or out of a family’s mouth is, ‘We want to win a national championship.’”

To back up his claim of commitment to sending players to the next level, Smith hired longtime minor league pitching coach Mike Cather as the program’s next pitching coach on July 11.

Cather played professionally for 10 years — three in the MLB with the Atlanta Braves from 1997-99 — before beginning his coaching career. As a coach, Cather worked with former ASU baseball coach Pat Murphy when the two were with Triple-A El Paso in the San Diego Padres organization.

He’s also worked for Theo Epstein, the Cubs president of baseball operations famous for ending championship droughts in Boston and Chicago, twice — once in Boston and another time in Chicago. Cather began working with the Red Sox organization as a minor league pitching coach in 2006, but in 2010, he was named a major league scout, a role where he provided insight and reports on the club’s major league staff.

“Arizona State is traditionally an exceptional baseball institution and there’s a different chemistry and drive to the players that come here,” Cather told Sun Devil Athletics in a press release the day he was hired. “For me, it makes a lot of a sense to come to a place where I can provide my insight from the professional side and help these players achieve those goals of competing at the next level.”

Lillard, the outfielder, said he didn’t remember a single time during Smith’s three-year tenure where there wasn’t some type of drama or toxic situation. According to him, players just tried to look the other way.

“I would say a lot of it is just like a pretend buy-in,” Lillard said. “People are concerned more about their own future than raising any red flags or concerns in the coach’s eyes. It’s like putting on a fake persona every day.”

Smith said he spent his first three years at ASU working towards reconstructing the program’s culture and trying to find players who fit it. There have been positives like Sewald’s story, and negatives, like when Shaps was dismissed.

Now, he feels like the program is in the best shape it’s ever been in under his leadership.

“You’ve got to have 35 guys rowing in the same direction as players and what you cannot have is everybody rowing and guys drilling a hole in your boat when you aren’t looking,” Smith said. “We’re eliminating that element that has existed here and I’m very excited about that.”

This isn’t Smith’s first rodeo, either. He rebuilt both Miami (OH) and Indiana University. He likes to tell the story of how he read three nasty emails to a breakfast club event with season-ticket holders during the 2017 season.

The crowd was taken aback upon hearing the language used in the emails, but not more than they were when Smith gave the punch line. Those emails weren’t from his ASU tenure, but from 2006-08, his first three years at Indiana.

In 2009, Smith led Indiana to an NCAA Regional. In 2013, he took them to the College World Series and was named National Coach of the Year for his job that year. In 2014, Indiana became the first Big Ten team to ever earn a national seed in the postseason.

His point?

“I know Arizona State has never been through something like this, but I’ve been through something like this,” Smith said in his postgame press conference on May 6, the same day Shaps was dismissed, and Lillard and Willeford left the team.

When discussing rebuilding, Smith usually regurgitates one of his favorite adages.

“We’re going to stick to the game plan and panic isn’t part of the game plan,” he says.

MOVING FORWARD

After a three-year process, Smith said he finally feels like the program is ready to move forward.

When Smith arrived at ASU, he inherited talented players like left-handed pitchers Brett Lilek and Ryan Kellogg, who were selected in the second and fifth rounds, respectively, in the 2015 MLB Draft. He also inherited shortstop Colby Woodmansee and catcher Brian Serven, who were both taken in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB Draft. But 2017 became the first year in program history where the team didn’t have a draft eligible junior or senior selected.

Smith has an impressive pre-ASU track record, though. Since 2000, 23 of his recruits have been drafted in the top 10 rounds of the MLB Draft, including 14 players drafted in the top 5 rounds.

In 2009, three Indiana players were selected in the first round and in 2013, catcher Kyle Schwarber went fourth overall to the Chicago Cubs. The only Sun Devil selected in this year’s draft, left-handed pitcher Connor Higgins, is Smith’s recruit.

ASU’s 2016 recruiting class, this past year’s freshmen and Smith’s first full class of recruits, was ranked No. 1 in the country. It included catcher Lyle Lin, who was drafted in the 16th round out of high school, and outfielder Hunter Bishop, who was selected in the 24th round.

According to Perfect Game USA’s latest rankings, ASU’s 2017 recruiting class is No. 8 in the nation, the best ranking of a Pac-12 school and the best of any school in the West. Left-handed pitcher Brendan Murphy and shortstop Jake Holmes were both drafted and signed with their respective organizations. Shortstop Gage Workman out of Chandler Basha was drafted in the 14th round, but chose to go to ASU.

Additionally, out of Baseball America’s top 500 2017 MLB Draft prospects, 136 high school players did not sign with pro teams and seven of them are attending ASU, which is second in the nation to only Vanderbilt (10).

“We’ve been methodically going through this. Recruiting is the lifeblood of your program. We feel like since we’ve been here we’ve done our best to evaluate the current state of our program in terms of competitive product on the field,” Smith said. “I think what we’ve tried to do in a very respectful way is transition a program that’s obviously had a rich tradition of history and winning. But through that, times have changed.”

Smith has said multiple times that outfielder Gage Canning will be the centerpiece of the program’s future. Canning committed to ASU before Smith took over, but according to assistant coach Ben Greenspan, Canning’s parents called after Smith was hired and asked if the new coaching staff still wanted Canning. About three years later, their decision is paying dividends.

Smith said he wants the younger players to look up to Canning. See how he still runs out to his position during a blowout. Or how he approaches an at-bat during one. Smith said he finally feels like the team will have guys like Canning, who embody what it means to be an ASU baseball player, on and off the field.

“I think having new recruits will be good, just to have everyone on the same page in terms of culture,” Canning said. “And once we get everyone on the same page in terms of where we’re heading, I think that’ll be better for the team as a whole.”

ASU’s 2018 roster is now up on the university’s athletics site. Infielder Andrew Snow and pitchers Reagan Todd, James Ryan and Sean Keating aren’t listed on it.

Neither are outfielder Tyler Williams and catcher Nick Cheema, who both announced on Twitter this summer that they were transferring out of the program. When reached, Cheema said he never had any problems with the program or its coaches, but acknowledged he left because of a lack of playing time. Fellow catchers Lyle Lin and Sam Ferri both seemed to be ahead of Cheema on the depth chart heading into next season.

Snow, who would’ve been an incoming senior, was a regular starter in his first two seasons, but started just 31 of the team’s 55 games as a junior. His 13 errors ranked second-most on the team and while Smith liked Snow’s bat, he always emphasized the importance of defense in his postgame press conferences.

In Snow’s place were infielders Carter Aldrete (shortstop) and Taylor Lane (second base). Aldrete started all 55 games as a freshman, hit .270 with 31 RBIs and committed nine errors all year. Lane, a junior last season, hit .262 with 12 RBIs and committed seven errors in 40 starts. Snow, however, hit just .242.

Infielder Cole Austin is listed on ASU’s 2018 roster. Austin, a junior, is a transfer from West Virginia who started 39 games as a freshman — at second and third — and hit .221 with four homers.

Programs also seem to have peaks and valleys. Miami had its streak of 44 consecutive postseason appearances snapped. Oregon State, who was the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s postseason, didn’t make it in 2015.

USC has made the postseason once in the past 13 seasons and Cal has done so once in the last seven years. Arizona won the national championship in 2012, but missed the postseason in 2013.

ASU avoided a valley for an abnormally lengthy period of time until 2017, but is hoping it can return to sustained success.

“Our head coach is doing everything the right way and has this program on the correct trajectory,” ASU Vice President for Athletics Ray Anderson said in a statement to DevilsDigest. “We expected rough spots, and saw those this past season. We are going to continue to navigate our way through to a very bright future with Tracy as our head coach.”

IS FAN SUPPORT ACTUALLY DECREASING?

ASU baseball experienced its worst year statistically in 2017, but one may never know if only looking at the program’s fundraising and ticketing successes.

Only five Power 5-conference schools had less wins than ASU’s 23 victories in 2017. Fans over social media have threatened to not renew their season tickets or withhold their donations.

But have they?

Tom Collins, ASU’s assistant athletic director for annual fund and stewardship, works closely with the baseball program and its donors. Collins said the baseball program received the largest donation in its history during the past two years, a seven-figure gift.

ASU is in the process of fundraising for a new indoor batting tunnel at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Collins, who is in his third year in his position, said the program envisions the batting tunnel will go down the first base line, a space currently occupied by bleachers.

It will feature three lanes — one for facing right-handed pitching, one for facing left-handed pitching and one for facing live pitching. There will also be a soft toss area. As of June 16, Collins said the program had raised about $2.5-3 million of the necessary $4 million for the batting tunnel.

“The original target number was $2.5 million because we really weren’t sure where we were going to put the batting cage,” Collins said in a phone interview. “But as we looked at it and we talked to the architects and engineers, we were trying to put it so it could tie into the clubhouse so our student-athletes have easy access. As we did that, we realized we were going to have to move the bullpens and move in fences.”

Phoenix Municipal Stadium’s dimensions are large compared to the average college baseball stadium. It is 410 feet to center field and 345 feet down both lines. Collins said the fences will be moved in and ready for the 2018 season and with the way donations are progressing, the program expects the batting facility to be complete and ready for the 2019 season.

Additionally, Collins said Smith has done a great job of connecting with donors and alumni. He follows up with donors and often writes thank you notes.

“I’ve been with other coaches who have been more challenging and don’t want to put the effort in or don’t think it’s their job as a coach to put the effort in, but I think that’s the difference between good coaches and great coaches,” Collins said. “The great coaches go the extra mile to make sure those things can get added to their program.”

In 2016, ASU brought Sun Devil great Rick Monday back. In 2017, the program honored its 1967 and 1977 championship teams.

“I think what Tracy has been trying to do is say that every ASU baseball alum is important,” Collins said. “It doesn’t matter who you played for, you’re in an elite company.”

Many of the donors may also be the part of the crowd filling the seats at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Needless to say, 2017 wasn’t a pleasant experience for them.

Dave Cohen, ASU’s senior associate athletic director who is also in charge of ticketing, said the athletic department likes to give fans time to breathe after the season. And because of this, the program doesn’t yet have the renewal rates for next year’s season tickets. But for added context, the men’s basketball season ended in early March and as of June 19, the deadline to renew season tickets hadn’t yet passed.

“It’s more just, ‘Hey, you’ve gotten through the season, you’ve invested your time, money and emotion with us,’” Cohen said in an interview in his office at the Ed and Nadine Carson Student-Athlete Center. “What I don’t want people to do is to always think we’re asking for money because that’s not what we’re about.”

However, ticketing statistics are a positive sign for the program. ASU baseball’s average attendance in its final year at Packard Stadium in 2014 was 2,400 and its total revenue was $549,405. Both numbers increased in 2015, most likely due to the move to a new stadium and top-ranked home opponents like Oklahoma State and Texas Christian University.

In 2016, those numbers expectedly dropped as the program averaged 2,376 fans per game. But what may be more surprising is that in a down 2017 season, the average attendance increased to 2,622.

The 2017 numbers are a major positive for the program for many reasons. First off, and perhaps most important, is that they show tickets sold despite ASU fielding a losing team. There were also external factors like the Northwestern series experiencing rain delays and a postponement, and a midweek against No. 20 Oklahoma State starting in the afternoon instead of the evening.

Cohen said he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the 2017 returns.

“This was something that I don’t want to say you expected to happen, but you thought might happen,” Cohen said of the subpar 2017 season. “When it did happen, all I thought was, ‘Let’s weather the storm. If we can get through this year, we can push through for future years.’ Our passion is not based on wins and losses, it’s about an affiliation with the program.”

Despite the fans who threaten to not renew season tickets because ASU retained Smith, Cohen said he only expects attendance and revenue to increase in 2018.

“We have great, passionate fans,” Cohen said. “That’s one of the benefits, we have a great, storied program. I understand and appreciate the passion and emotion, and the care of our fans, I think it’s what makes it special. But I do think the people that are maybe speaking the loudest are the minority. I do think we have season-ticket holders that are with us for the long term.”

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Smith pinpointed his third year as the transition year but said he didn’t expect fans to understand because the casual fan wouldn’t be informed on recruiting cycles or legislative changes that affect how a coach builds his roster.

“Part of the reason I came here was I wanted to come to a place that truly cared about winning,” Smith said. “To me, as a coach, you cannot have it both ways. You can’t have it where all you wanted to hear is the good.”

Not only was Smith booed at some of the home games, but he received harsh messages on social media. He said he even blocked fans from following him because he didn’t need the negativity.

He said the same thought popped up in his head throughout the season: I just wish they knew what was going on.

“People don’t understand,” Smith said. “I love this place, I love these kids. You pour your life, your heart, and your soul into something, and every decision is thawed out, we just don’t have knee-jerk reactions.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, pretty good track record of doing it. I didn’t in one year just become this crazy, psychotic, idiot dude that everybody thinks I am.”

When thinking about the backlash and fan unrest he’s faced, Smith often puts it in context. He thinks about himself as a “lowly baseball coach” at one Division I program in one state in an entire country. Yes, it’s one of the country’s most storied and historic baseball programs, but he knows he’s by no means a celebrity.

Sometimes, he’ll walk into the supermarket and spot a National Enquirer magazine. Suddenly, he gains perspective.

“OK, those people have it a lot worse than I do,” Smith said.

Smith said he’s not out to win some public battle of right and wrong but to right the ship on the field. He said all he cares about is winning.

Forming his ideal roster and trying to eliminate and rework parts of the program’s culture has taken three years. In the third year, ASU baseball experienced losing like it never had before. But Smith now feels like the program is in the best shape it’s ever been during his tenure.

And with it, he feels he finally has a fair shot to lead his team to a dogpile in Omaha.

“Judge me now,” Smith says to the critics.