Humans of Chaffey: Coach Andrew Smith
By Alex Garcia
Being a coach can be challenging. You are in charge of a roster that has an average of 26 players with many different play styles and skill sets. Not everyone can learn the same way so being able to teach baseball in many different ways is a great skill that a coach should have. With the amount of effort that Coach Smith has put into the team, he makes coaching look easy.
Andrew grew up in Las Vegas and was blessed to have the support and was blessed to have the support of his family while he pursued baseball. Although playing never came easy to him, he had a lot of passion for the game.
Smith played little league baseball and then transitioned to college baseball where he attended Santa Barbara City College, Dixie State University (now Utah Tech), and Biola University.
Before he started coaching, he did not know that this would become his new career. It was up until a coach at Biola University, where he previously attended as a student, offered him a coaching position.
Smith's new position was being the assistant coach of Biola. He took on the responsibilities of handling the hitting and baserunning instruction, team operations, summer ball placement and recruiting.
Once his coaching career at Biola approached its end, he then transferred to Chaffey College in the fall of 2019. His starting role at Chaffey consisted of being the first assistant and recruiting coordinator for the Panthers. He worked with the offense, outfielders, baserunners, led the recruiting efforts, academic success and prepared scouting reports.
In August of 2021, he was given the opportunity to become the interim head coach. However, the Panthers did not play that year because of the widespread of the Covid-19 virus that struck the world.
He has lots of inspiration when it comes to his coaching and playing career. As a player, he was inspired by Coach Jeff Walker of Santa Barbara City College, Coach Alex Kocol of Glendale College and Derek Jeter. As a coach, he was inspired by Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams.
When asked what his favorite thing about being a coach is, Smith said “Being able to problem solve and help players grow are a few of my favorite things about coaching".
Smith also mentioned that “Coaching starts off with hard work with little money but you have to love it. You also need to remove the ego and be able to learn and grow, removing the ego also applies to playing".
No one wants a player on their team that has this big ego and tries to act like they are better than everyone else when they are all competing in the same team.
I proceeded to ask him what career path he would have chosen if the coaching job was not offered. He then responded with “I thought of being a police officer in college, but I can not picture myself doing anything other than being on the field”.
When Smith is not coaching, he loves to spend time with his family and friends. He also enjoys surfing from time to time. He explained that with the schedule that he has makes it difficult to have free time.
He then went on to say "Balancing a schedule is difficult, you need to learn how to properly time manage".
After years of hard work and dedication to coaching that started at Biola University, he found himself at Chaffey College, where his leadership played a major role in the team's success. In 2024, under his guidance and the tremendous amount of effort of the players, the Panthers achieved a remarkable feat by repeating as conference champions, a milestone they have not reached since 2008.