Tony Smith

Biography

Tony Smith joined the Northwestern staff before the 2023 season as a Volunteer Assistant. In the Fall of 2023, he was promoted to Assistant Coach following the staff's recognition as the 2023 ATEC/NFCA Division I Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year. Since Smith’s arrival in 2023, Northwestern has earned berths to three straight NCAA tournaments and captured two Big Ten regular season titles, as well as a Big Ten tournament title. Most recently in 2025, the Wildcats finished with a 29-17-1 record and a 16-6 record in conference play, leading to a seventh-straight NCAA tournament berth. Northwestern earned four wins over RPI Top 25 teams, defeating No. 11 Duke, No. 22 Mississippi State, and No. 6 UCLA twice, in the final series of the regular season. In 2024, with a lineup that replaced six of its nine defensive starters from the previous year, the Wildcats finished with a 35-13 record and a 19-3 record in conference play en route to a third-straight Big Ten regular season title and sixth-consecutive berth to the NCAA Tournament. In 2023, the Wildcats posted a 42-13 record and captured both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, before reaching the NCAA Super Regional round for the seventh time since 2005. Smith enjoyed a long career in baseball before joining the Northwestern softball staff. He pitched four seasons in Independent League Baseball before spending four years as Director of Pitching, Arm Care, and Overhand Throwing at Athletes HQ. Smith spent