Kenny Smith joins the Wildcats' program fresh off two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at UNC-Asheville, where he helped to coach second baseman Jordan Lurie to All-Conference honors. Smith will also work with the hitters and will focus his defensive efforts on B-CU's infielders.

"He brings a tremendous amount of baseball knowledge to the program, growing up in a baseball family," said Beverlin of Smith. "His dad is very well renowned as a Hall of Fame coach, and growing up in that setting impressed a lot on Kenny. I expect he will do a great job in passing that knowledge along to the players."

Smith was the 2007 Southern Conference Player-of-the-Year at Western Carolina, helping to lead the Catamounts, along with Coach Shaft, to the championship game of the Chapel Hill Regional. Smith fired off a team-high 20 home runs and WCU Single Season Record Holder in RBI and Total Bases, earning him second team ABCA All-American honors, as well as ABCA All-Atlantic Region, a spot on the NCAA All Regional Team, Western Carolina Male Athlete of the Year, and the WCU Triple Crown. He graduated from WCU with his Masters in Accountancy.

He played at UNC Wilmington for three seasons before graduating with his degree in Accounting and transferring to Western Carolina. He helped lead the Seahawks to the 2006 Colonial Athletic Association title, hitting .286 with 16 doubles and 28 RBI. Smith played on two championship teams and was a part of two Regional appearances at UNCW.

Following his collegiate playing career, he played with Texas Rangers Organization making stops in Spokane, Wash. and Clinton, Iowa.