| Adam Smith made the move from Concordia-Chicago to Benedictine on Friday. Concordia-Chiacgo athletics photo |
LISLE, Ill. - It is with great pleasure that Benedictine University announces the hiring of Adam Smith to the position of head baseball coach.
Smith served as the head coach at Concordia University Chicago for the past five years, guiding the program to unprecedented heights with a winning percentage that led the nation in 2013 and finished second in 2014 with identical marks of .848 following 39-7 seasons. With a career of 179-53, Smith owns a career winning percentage of .771.
"I am ecstatic to be part of such an outstanding university," Smith said. "The facilities and everything about the institution is state of the art and I am lucky to be able to take over one of the top programs in NCAA Division III."
Smith's programs regularly made waves on the national level while re-writing the record books, appearing in the national rankings consistently while winning four Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference championships (2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015). Smith won nearly 200 games while advancing to four consecutive NCAA Regionals (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015). His 2014 team earned the #3 national ranking in the D3baseball.com poll for two weeks, garnering a pair of first place votes.
"After a comprehensive national search, Adam stood out and will be an outstanding fit to the university," director of athletics Mark McHorney stated. "Adam's demonstrated ability to lead, compete, and positively impact student athletes, inspires all of us here at Benedictine."
A three-time Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year (2011, 2013, and 2014), Smith opened his coaching career at his alma mater, Carthage College, spending seven years as an assistant.
The Schaumburg, Ill. native was part of six regional berths at Carthage and a pair of College World Series appearances in 2001 and 2004 while also competing in two World Series as a player in 1995 and 1997. Throughout his career as a coach, Smith has helped steer teams to 11 NCAA appearances.
Smith takes over for John Ostrowski, who piloted the Benedictine program for 43 years.