Former area standout Luke Smith named Centennial's next baseball coach

CHAMPAIGN — Not too long along, Luke Smith excelled on the pitching mound for the Centennial baseball team. Used his expertise and fiery personality on the mound to eventually pitch at Parkland College and Louisville.

Now, the former Centennial standout will have a new title at his alma mater: baseball coach.

Centennial announced Smith as the program’s next coach Wednesday morning, pending school board approval.

Smith, a 2016 Centennial graduate, was brimming with excitement on Wednesday about the chance to be back in the Centennial blue.

“I had a lot of great memories and a lot of great coaches while I was at Centennial,” Smith said. “I definitely miss playing baseball, and even the enjoyable side of staying competitive and helping out the younger generation is something I have a big passion for. I’m hoping this will be along those lines for me, and I’m excited to help the next generation grow.”

Smith takes over a Centennial team that went 9-16-1 last spring under Vince Perri.

A Champaign native, Smith said he knew the Chargers coaching position at his alma mater was going to open soon after last season ended, and he received plenty of encouragement from the community to throw his name in the hat.

“I knew coaching was something I always wanted to do, but I’d be lying if I said I thought from the beginning that it was going to be at Centennial,” Smith said. “There were some people who reached out to me and said, ‘It’d be awesome if you gave it a shot.’ I have a great backing in the Champaign community, so I’ve had a lot of support from family and friends. All the cards fell in my lap, and I decided to jump on the opportunity.”

Smith thrived both on the mound and in the batter’s box the last time he had a Centennial uniform on. A 2016 News-Gazette All-Area First Team selection, Smith played a big part in helping the Chargers reach a Class 3A sectional title game his senior season. He earned nine wins on the mound and sported a 1.84 ERA with 74 strikeouts, while hitting .438 with 32 RBI.

Smith then went on to pitch at Parkland, earning All-Midwest Athletic Conference honors as a freshman and helping the team to an NJCAA Division II runner-up season as a sophomore.

His success in Champaign allowed him the opportunity to transfer to Louisville, where the right-hander went 12-5 in three seasons.

He struck out a career-high 10 batters against Vanderbilt in the 2019 College World Series, even becoming a viral social-media sensation after he yelled a few profane words in the direction of a Vanderbilt hitter following one of those strikeouts.

Smith returned to Champaign in 2021 and was Parkland’s pitching coach for then-head coach Jon Goebel, whom Smith gave a lot of credit for what he was able to accomplish.

“Jon Goebel was a huge piece in my development as a player, a coach and a man,” Smith said. “I owe a lot of my success in my baseball career to him.”

With his experience as a player and even his one year of coaching experience, Smith is hoping he can start to turn the Centennial program around.

“The playing in between the lines is very important, but for the guys who want to play at the next level, I’ve been through the recruiting process, talked to coaches and gone through the big question marks in that process,” Smith said. “Not everyone is going to move on and play college baseball, but I want to make it an enjoyable atmosphere where they can grow as a player, a student and a person.”