Arlington hires Tipton-Rosemark's Brad Smith as baseball coach

Brad Smith, who has been head baseball coach at Tipton-Rosemark since 2007, is leaving to become the next baseball coach at Arlington, the school announced in a release Wednesday. 

Smith replaces Chris Ring, who decided to step down earlier this year. Smith coached baseball for 14 years at Arlington and still plans to teach at the school according to the release.

“Coach Ring’s leadership as head coach has certainly left a legacy that speaks for itself,” Principal Chris Duncan said. “He built a solid program over the years that saw many state tournament plays, and we have all the confidence that Coach Smith will be able to step into his place and continue moving this program forward.”

Arlington finished the regular-season 18-16 last year and made the Class AAA state tournament. Tipton-Rosemark missed last year's DII-A state tournament but was state runner-up in 2018, 2014, and 2009 under Smith. 

“I got into coaching because I wanted the kids to experience the game of baseball that I fell in love with,” Smith said. “It’s my goal to prepare my athletes, to the best of my ability, to play at the next level. That’s the goal for a lot of my kids, and I want to try my hardest to make that happen.”

Smith also said he's looking forward to getting to work developing players when its safe to do so, as this season was canceled due to COVID-19. 

“Most importantly, I’m ready to get on the field with our players,” Smith said. “These young men have gone pretty much an entire season without development through playing live-action games. It’s going to be my job and my assistant coaches’ job to help our players make up for this lost time. I love the game, and I can’t wait to share my passion and love of baseball with Arlington and our young men.”