Marty Smith's historic coaching career reached a quarter century with the start of the 2019 campaign, a run that has amassed 725 wins at Central Florida. Smith recently became just the third active coach to reach the 700-win plateau in the Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA).
A two-time FCSAA Coach of the Year and five-time Mid-Florida Conference Coach of the Year, Smith's storied career includes two FCSAA state championships and reached the NJCAA Division I Baseball World Series in 1997 and 1998. During his time at Central Florida, the Patriots have captured five Mid-Florida Championships (1996, 1997, 2001, 2004, and 2007) and finished as runners-up in 2018, a team that set a program record for home runs in a season.
The 2018 season also saw Josh Harper earn the coveted Lea Plarski Award presented annually to an NJCAA student-athlete who exemplifies sportsmanship, leadership, community service, academic excellence and athletic ability. "The team loved him, the community loved him, he's just a very giving guy," Smith noted. "Josh brought a lot of great qualities that everyone loved about him and really helped our program."
A former baseball student-athlete at Central Florida, Smith finished his collegiate career at St. Thomas University (FL) before embarking on a coaching career that included stops at Miami
Dade where he coached future MLB star Mike Piazza and Florida State College-Jacksonville before returning to Central Florida as an assistant in 1991. Smith took the reigns of the program in 1994 and has been a consistent national presence in the NJCAA ever since.
Smith has mentored hundreds of student-athletes who have moved on to four-year schools and over 25 former student-athletes have been selected in the MLB draft including Nate Pearson who was selected 28th overall in 2017.
A Jacksonville, FL native, Smith's coaching resume also includes a trip to Beijing as the head coach of the NJCAA All-Stars in 2004 as part of the NJCAA-China Friendship Series. Smith has also served as a member of the ABCA for over 20 years.