ASU Baseball: Tracy Smith, Ray Anderson reportedly receiving contract extensions

It appears as if both Arizona State baseball coach Tracy Smith and Athletic Director Ray Anderson are receiving contract extensions, according to 247Sports SunDevil Source.

On the baseball diamond, Smith’s contract is reportedly being extended through 2023. During his time at ASU, Smith has compiled a 168-133 record as he enters his seventh season going into 2021.

His winning percentage is the lowest among ASU’s five coaches in program history, including back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018 where the program ended the season nine games under .500 and missed the postseason.

On the flip side of those numbers, Smith is also responsible for bringing in highly-touted prospects Hunter Bishop, Spencer Torkelson, Alika Williams, Gage Workman and Trevor Hauver.

In 2020, Smith’s group had five draft picks and appeared to be on its way to Omaha with a loaded lineup before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Torkelson (No. 1 overall) and Williams (No. 37 overall) were both first-round picks in this past summer’s MLB Draft, while Hauver was a third-round selection.

A former National Coach of the Year at Indiana, Smith has yet to get past the NCAA Regionals during his time at ASU, but he will look to do so this year with a cast of young players, many returning arms on his pitching staff, as well as veteran infielder Drew Swift.

As for Anderson, his contract is reportedly being extended for five years through February 2026, with his annual salary being pushed up from $800,000 to $950,000. Anderson is on the Pac-12’s executive board, serving as the Chair of the Pac-12 Athletic Director Group.

He helped overturn the conference’s ugly football officiating scandal in 2018, and he’s responsible for the hires of Sun Devil head coaches Bobby Hurley, Herm Edwards, Trisha Ford, Greg Powers, Sanja Tomasevic and Smith.

Among the 17 coaches who he has hired, six have gone on to earn Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors.

Earlier in January, Anderson also made it clear that he had no intentions of pursuing the Pac-12 Commissioner vacancy that was left open after the conference parted ways with Larry Scott.

Both Anderson and Smith’s extensions have not yet been finalized, but they will be reviewed and are expected to be approved by the Arizona Board of Regents during their upcoming meeting on Feb. 11.