3rd Season (4th Overall)
San Francisco '17
Former University of San Francisco Don and professional baseball player Allen Smoot enters his first year as the Dons' Assistant Coach in 2022, his fourth full year on the staff after serving as the Dons' Director of Baseball Operations in 2018-19 and as the team's Volunteer Assistant from 2020-21.
Among his many coaching responsibilities as the staff's volunteer assistant, Smoot acted regularly as the Dons' first base coach during games. He also worked directly with the teamâs catchers, helping the program earn three straight nominations to the Buster Posey Award Watch List (Robert Emery in â19 and â20; Thomas McCarthy in â21), annually awarded to the nationâs best player at the catcher position. Smoot has also played a significant role in developing the teamâs hitters.Â
During his time as the team's director of operations, he was in charge of handling the day-to-day operations of the USF baseball program, including planning travel, schedule maintenance, practice planning, pitch charting, and more.
Smoot was a first team all-West Coast Conference player for the Dons during his USF career from 2015-17. He finished his career on The Hilltop with top-10 program marks in career batting average and on-base percentage. His 39 walks drawn during his senior season of 2017 were seventh-most in a single season at USF. He earned the team's Dante Benedetti Award (Team MVP) in 2017, just as his father, Al, had done in 1981.
Smoot was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2017 MLB First Year Players Draft. He played a year of professional baseball in the Rays' minor league system for a year, where he continued his propensity for getting on base with a .352 clip and also rapping out 19 hits in 29 games during his rookie season.
