Title: Head coach, South Carolina
Sport: Fastpitch Softball
Career Record: 26-30

Beverly Smith just completed her first year as Head Coach at South Carolina, leading the Gamecocks to a 26-30 record.

Smith arrived at Columbia after a successful tenure as first an assistant coach, then associate head coach for the University of North Carolina softball program. Spending 12 years combined on staff as the lead recruiter, Smith helped the Tar Heels to eight of their nine NCAA Tournament appearances and to two Atlantic Coast Conference titles (2001 and 2008). Smith tutored the Tar Heel pitchers and catchers, including Danielle Spaulding, who just finished her career at North Carolina as the program’s third first-team All-American. Five of Smith’s pitchers earned All-ACC accolades 10 times during her tenure, while she also helped UNC achieve a top-25 ranking in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Coaches Poll at least once per season since 2006.

During Smith’s tenure in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heel pitchers were outstanding. The 2010 squad finished 16th in NCAA Division I with a 1.92 ERA while the program ranked in the top 10 in the nation in three of the previous four seasons. Spaulding was her star pupil, earning All-America accolades three times from Louisville Slugger and the NFCA. During the past three seasons, Spaulding finished in the nation’s top six in strikeouts per seven innings each year while twice earning ACC Player of the Year accolades. Last season, Spaulding was the toughest pitcher in the country to hit against, as she yielded just 2.61 hits per seven innings. In 2009, Spaulding led the country with 14.3 strikeouts per seven innings. Crystal Cox also earned All-America honors under Smith’s guidance, making the third team in 2006 after claiming ACC Rookie of the Year honors in 2003.

Working with the other half of the battery, Smith had three catchers take home All-ACC honors. Ally Blake and Brittany McKinney claimed spots in the last two seasons, while Natalie Anter made the list four times from 1999-2002. Anter also played in the 2004 Athens Olympics with the Italian national team.

Smith compiled three different tenures in Tar Heel blue, starting as a player from 1991-94. She was the first North Carolina softball player to win ACC Player of the Year honors (1994), and her name dots the Tar Heel top-10 lists to this day in both the hitting and pitching categories. In 2002, she was selected as one of the top 50 players in ACC softball history.

Born in Asheboro, N.C., and raised in Houston, Texas, Smith spent two years at the University of Houston, starting in the academic office before working as the athletics department’s marketing coordinator. She played and served as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay FireStix of the Women’s Pro Softball League in 1997. During this time, she also coached Episcopal High School in Bellaire, Texas, to three state titles and a state runner-up spot (1995-98).

In addition to her coaching, Smith has been a speaker/clinician at many camps and conventions, including at the NFCA Convention this year. She graduated from North Carolina in 1994 with a double major in speech communications and political science.