Michigan baseball adds to Tracy Smith's coaching staff
Michigan baseball added a big piece to new head coach Tracy Smith’s staff on Thursday. Former Arizona State assistant and Cal Poly coach Ben Greenspan is joining the program as Smith’s associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.
Greenspan is seen as an ace recruiter and helped Arizona State accumulate talent during his time there, bringing in top 10 classes in five of six years from 2016-21. Player development has also been critical, headlined by his work with 2020 No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, who now plays for the Detroit Tigers.
Greenspan also played two seasons at Indiana and was a captain and Academic All-Big Ten performer in 2007. He spent time on Smith’s staffs in both Bloomington and Tempe.
Michigan’s statement on Greenspan
University of Michigan baseball head coach Tracy Smith announced on Thursday (July 7) that Ben Greenspan joined the staff as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ben to the Michigan Baseball program,” said Smith. “In addition to being an outstanding coach, Ben has earned his reputation as one of the top recruiters in the country. He has been instrumental in attracting and developing top-10 recruiting classes to programs from the Midwest to the California coast.”
Greenspan coached most recently at Cal Poly where, in 2021, the Mustangs posted a 37-21 record and a 22-8 mark in Big West play. Ranked as high as No. 18 nationally, Cal Poly won 11 of its last 12 conference games and ended the season winning 13 of the final 14 games. Greenspan and the Cal Poly coaching staff mentored a pair of All-Americans in Brooks Lee and Drew Thrope. Lee, who won the Wallace Award as the nation’s top shortstop, is a consensus first-round draft projection who batted .357 with 15 homers, 25 doubles and 55 RBI under Greenspan. Thorpe led the nation in strikeouts and earned 10 wins on the mound.
Prior to his time at Cal Poly, Greenspan established himself as an elite recruiter at Arizona State University where he assembled the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2016, the No. 7 class in 2017, the No. 4 class in 2018, the No. 8 class in 2020 and the No. 10 class in 2021.
All told, Greenspan oversaw four top-10 recruiting classes in five of his six final seasons in the Phoenix while the Sun Devils earned NCAA regional appearances in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021.
Tracy Smith’s background
Smith was hired earlier this month as the predecessor to Erik Bakich, who departed Michigan for Clemson in June.
Smith, 56, has plenty of Big Ten experience, coaching at Indiana as an assistant in 1995-96 and later holding the main job from 2006-14.
He last coached at Arizona State from 2015-21. Smith began his head coaching career at Miami and went 317-220-1 from 1997-2005, advancing to a pair of NCAA Regionals. Rogers went 287-237 in nine seasons on the job at Indiana with three NCAA Regional berths and a trip to the College World Series in 2013.
Smith’s time at Arizona State saw him go 201-155 in seven seasons in Tempe. Arizona State played in four NCAA Regionals on his watch before he was fired at the end of the 2021 campaign.
