Former Cal Baptist, Ole Miss Softball Coach Joins Division II Staff
Former Cal Baptist and Ole Miss head coach Mike Smith has been hired as an assistant at Division II Union University in Jackson, Tenn., according to the program's website.
Union has not officially announced the hire but Smith has a profile listed on the site.
The Bulldogs finished the 2025 season 10-40 and 6-26 in the Gulf South Conference. Their biggest wins of the season were against a then-ranked No. 13 Trevecca Nazarene, taking two of three games from the Trojans by scores of 8-2 and 2-0.
Smith will work alongside head coach Sydney Sturner who just finished her third season in Jackson.
Smith was most recently at Cal Baptist and resigned from his head coaching post at the end of April, ending his second stint with the Lancers, which began in 2021. His first stint at CBU included a 2009 NAIA National Championship.
Before moving back to the West Coast, Smith was the head coach at Ole Miss. He turned the Rebels program around in a hurry once he took over in May 2014, taking a losing program and turning it into a national contender.
The Rebels earned four consecutive NCAA Tournament berths under Smith and hosted twice. He also guided Ole Miss to two Super Regional appearances in his last three seasons.
So Proud of my senior class @IamElantraCox @schneidszzz @alyssanoell13 @Elisha_Jahnke @Kaitlin00 @castro_bry5 @paige_mckinney6 & the legacy you all created to make @OleMissSoftball relevant. U all r ambassadors for Ole Miss & our program. Thanks 4 the memories. 4ever greatful. pic.twitter.com/SSacVnO4cP
— 🥎 MIKE SMITH 🥎 (@msmithsb16) May 21, 2018
During his tenure as Rebels’ head coach, Smith compiled an overall record of 186-114, including the 2017 SEC Tournament title.
Smith was the head coach at McNeese State for three season before moving to Oxford.
The Cowgirls won back-to-back Southland Conference regular season championships in 2013 and 2014, their first since 1994. Smith also earned Southland Coach of the Year in each of those two seasons.
In addition to the previous three schools, Smith was the interim head coach at UC Riverside prior to his time at California Baptist, and in the four years before that, he served as head coach at Biola, where he won one league title, had a 50-win season, and a 10th-place finish at the NAIA World Series.
𝘔𝟏𝐊𝘦 𝘚𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘩
— California Baptist Softball (@CBUSoftball) February 18, 2024
Lancer Head Coach Mike Smith becomes just the 37th coach all-time to reach 1,000 wins spanning all four-year programs!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/0fWIkAualO
Smith's coaching career hasn't come without controversy. He was placed on administrative leave during the 2025 season at CBU, and he was suspended for the opening weekend of the 2019 season for an undisclosed violation by then athletics director Ross Bjork. He was then placed on administrative leave after the 2019 season, pending what was described as a non-financial, external audit of the program.
Smith resigned from Ole Miss in December 2019.
-1d7db99dccc9abef7b9378f016b22b68.webp "Maren Angus-Coombs")
Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 for various outlets including Softball America, ESPNW and Hurrdat Sports. She is currently the managing editor of Softball On SI and also serves as an analyst for Nebraska softball games on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.