Smith Breaks Barriers and Proves People Wrong

Former Dartmouth softball player Bianca Smith always wanted to prove people wrong.

"If you tell me I can't do something, 99 percent of the time, I am going to try to do it… just because you said I couldn't," she said. "I might not have even considered it before.

"But as soon as you said I couldn't, now I want to see if I can."

It should be to no one's surprise that someone with Smith's mindset would go on to break barriers as the first Black female coach in Major League Baseball.

"It took me a while to embrace it and accept it, because while I knew it was a thing, I never really paid attention to it," said Smith. "I just wanted to coach. Now, I've definitely accepted it and appreciate it a lot more, mainly because of all the women who have reached out."

Smith's baseball journey began from a young age, with her stop at Dartmouth playing a pivotal role.

"My mom was a diehard Yankees fan and she introduced me to the game when I was really little," said Bianca. "She used to joke that I made it an obsession."

As time went on, Smith found herself watching baseball morning, noon and night.

"I would be up at three in the morning to watch the World Baseball Classic," she said. "I just found ways to continue to watch baseball."

What about baseball got Smith obsessed?
Bianca Smith Red Sox

The strategy.

"You don't have to be the strongest and you don't have to be the fastest," said Smith. "You don't have to be the best player on the field, but if you know your strengths, you're able to utilize them and you know the strategy behind the game, you can still be a great player."

Smith grew a love for game planning and advanced scouting.

"One of the reasons I love coaching defense, baserunning and being a base coach, is because it's pure strategy," she said. "Baserunning is the easiest thing you're going to do in the game. Literally just run from base to base, but mentally, it's one of the hardest parts because you have to be so aware and able to react to what's happening on the field."

Smith's Dartmouth Path
Speaking of the field, when Smith decided to attend Dartmouth all the way from Grapevine, Texas, she didn't think she would end up on the softball field.

But that's exactly what happened, almost by accident, as she walked onto the varsity softball team midway through her time at Dartmouth.

"I actually ran into the softball coach going to meet the baseball coach," said Smith. "I didn't know she was the softball coach at the time, we just started talking and I mentioned how I was a pinch runner my senior year of high school. She said they needed speed, so she asked if I wanted to try out.

"I walked on the day before preseason my junior year."

One of the reasons Smith was at Dartmouth in the first place was her parents, who were both Dartmouth alums.

"My parents brought me to homecoming when I was little and I remember being on my dad's shoulders and watching the bonfire," said Smith. "I grew up with stories of my parents going to Dartmouth; they met there, and my dad played football there. Once I started looking at schools, I also loved the fact that it was a small school."

A small school allowed Smith to get involved in so much. She went on to become a cheerleader for all four years. As a sophomore, she asked the baseball team if she could help.
Dartmouth Softball: Women In The Workforce - Bianca Smith (11-12)

Dartmouth Softball: Women In The Workforce - Bianca Smith (11-12)

"I started doing scoreboard, and tried to do play-by-play once, but got so excited watching the game that I forgot to say what was happening," said Smith. "I also did tours for recruits."

That set the stage for Smith's conversation with then head softball coach Rachel Hanson.

"That first week [of softball preseason] was so difficult trying to get back into shape," said Smith. "That was January 31, and then a few months later, I joined the club baseball team as well, who had just started up."

Unfortunately, Smith got hurt her senior year of softball.

"Towards the end of October, I tore my hip labrum working on dives in the outfield," she said. "I tried to rehab, which didn't work, so right after our season started in March, I ended up having hip surgery. I stayed on the team, but was working more video and anything else the coaches needed."

Baseball As A Player… Then Career
Smith would go on to be a trailblazer as a coach for the Red Sox, but she began breaking barriers earlier by joining Dartmouth's club baseball team.

"It was because I was on the softball team that they actually let me join," she said. "I remember one of them saying, 'She's the only varsity athlete we have here; she must be able to play the game.' My softball coach didn't know I had joined the team at the time. She knew I was cheering because we had an agreement that I could continue cheering, but couldn't cheer during preseason."

Smith went on to start every club baseball game in which she played.

"I was just another player, another teammate," she said.
Bianca Smith Dartmouth Baseball Team

At that time, Smith was experiencing baseball as a player. The thought of baseball as a post-playing career began entering Smith's mind during her college days, but it wasn't a straight path to that conclusion.

"I had wanted to be a veterinarian for 12 years," she said. "I took my first biology class and could not do it. I hated it. I had never considered what else I'd want to do."

Then, on a trip back home, a visit to the YMCA led to a realization.

"I was working at a youth basketball tournament, just keeping time, and looked around and realized… I love this atmosphere," said Smith. "I love just being around this, and it occurred to me, all right, there are professional sports. Somebody has to work these games, somebody has to make it run behind-the-scenes and I knew if it was going to be sports, it was going to be baseball.

"There was no other option."

Smith did some research on potential job opportunities and realized she wanted to have some control with the roster.

"I wanted to be able to impact what was happening on the field, which should have told me I wanted to be a coach, but it didn't occur to me at the time," she said. "I actually went straight for the front office and wanted to be a general manager at first."

Smith's Post-Dartmouth Path
All this happened when Smith was at Dartmouth. After graduating in 2012, she wanted to attend graduate school, knowing she was behind many who wanted to work in sports.

"I didn't have an internship, so I thought having a graduate degree, and then being able to work with a college baseball team, would help," said Smith. "So I went to Case Western, which was the only school that really showed enthusiasm with me helping out the baseball team.

"How I chose my school was actually the team itself."

Academically, Case Western was a very strong school as well, so Smith had the best of both worlds. She went on to graduate from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management and School of Law.

"I hadn't intended on doing both degrees at the same time, but I figured if I get in, I could do it for four years and get to be with the baseball team for four years [as Director of Baseball Operations]," said Smith, who studied sports law and sports management. "If not, I'd get to work for the baseball team for five years."

Following Case Western, Smith joined the Texas Rangers as a baseball operations intern.

"I did your basic internship — gopher, did a bunch of data projects and analytics," she said. "They sent me to scout school from there. The people I met in scout school had an opening as a Scouting Bureau intern, so I was then in New York City in the commissioner's office."

Halfway through Smith's internship, the Scouting Bureau actually disbanded,
Bianca Smith

"Our job was to keep track of all the medical paperwork of kids who were interested in getting drafted," she said. "We went from four people keeping track of about a thousand kids worth of medical paperwork to two. I got to keep my internship and ended up running an MRI program for Major League Baseball, pretty much taking care of all the medical paperwork for that year's draft."

It was a good experience for Smith, but she missed something.

"I missed being on the field," she said. "I couldn't find a job immediately, so I moved back home with my parents in Texas and worked as a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Dallas. I worked seven part-time jobs at the same time, including youth academy coach for the Rangers."

Smith had kept in touch with the Cincinnati Reds after applying for their internship several times. This time was a success and during the 2019 season, Smith was the Reds' baseball operations trainee.

"They knew I wanted to coach, so they put me on the Minor League side," she said. "It wasn't enough for me, so I reached out to the Major League staff asking for advice. One day, I printed out an advanced report on the Reds, went down during batting practice and started taking notes. Their assistant hitting coach noticed me and told the manager."

From there, Smith's internship began including more on-field responsibilities.

"The first few hours in the morning, I was in the office and then around 1:00, I was down on the field helping out with batting practice and defensive work," she said. "During games, I was in the clubhouse and started monitoring hitter swing selection for the players."

The next stop for Smith was Carroll University in Wisconsin as Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance and Administration.

"Most people don't notice this, but that was my first full-time job ever," she said. "Literally jumped from intern to an assistant athletics director. Huge jump and the only reason why I took the job was because they said I could coach baseball as well.

"Then COVID hit and our season ended, so I spent all that quarantine doing a bunch of certifications, as many as I could on hitting, pitching and whatever I could find," Smith continued. "I was able to completely revamp the hitting program at Carroll where they went on to set multiple hitting records."

The Red Sox Come Calling
The Boston Red Sox were noticing Smith's success and reached out to her.

"Somebody in HR saw my LinkedIn profile and asked if I was interested in talking about a baseball operations role," she said. "It never said coaching. After four interviews over the span of just over a week, it turned into a coaching offer instead.

"What led me to the Red Sox was being willing to learn and being open to any interview that came my way."
Bianca Smith Red Sox

During Smith's past two years with the Red Sox (2021 and 2022), Smith was stationed at their complex in Fort Myers with their Rookie League Team.

"I was there for spring training through extended spring training and then the rookie season starts in the summer," she said. "I coached primarily outfield, first base, helped with hitting and helped our manager a little bit. My second year, I was promoted to full-time. My official title was just minor league coach, but I basically did the same thing with a few more responsibilities.

"The second year, I also helped our manager a little bit more with scheduling, game reports and keeping track of our pitching staff," Smith continued. "Whenever our manager was gone, I took over."

It was recently announced that Smith has moved on from the Red Sox to pursue other opportunities. She's excited for what's next.

A Bright Future
Whatever is in the near and distant future, it's safe to say Smith's Dartmouth experience will continue to play an important role in the person she is today and will be tomorrow.

"Even though it wasn't three varsity sports, I still tell people I was a three-sport athlete (varsity softball, cheerleading and club baseball)," she said. "That's not easy to do, especially at a school like Dartmouth, but the fact that I was able to do that actually helped me a lot.

"I found out that I'm a better student when I don't have time to procrastinate," Smith continued. "The busier I can be, the better I am. And I'm the same way in my personal life. If I've got too much idle time, I start putting things aside and honestly get lazy, which I don't like."

When describing what she learned at Dartmouth, Smith used the words time management and work ethic, along with relentless, tough and a team atmosphere.

"In baseball and softball, there are going to be times when it's very individualistic," she said. "When you're hitting, it's you against the pitcher, but at the end of the day, it's going to take more than just one person to win a ballgame."

Smith's major at Dartmouth was sociology with a focus on gender and women in the workplace.
Bianca Smith Red Sox

"I've got to give credit to Dartmouth for that too," she said. "I don't think without that major, I would have done what I've done."

As Smith explained, she learned that men will apply for jobs that they're 50 percent qualified for while women won't apply for jobs unless they're 100 percent qualified.

"My dad has even had to remind me sometimes to think like a man," she said. "There are definitely times when I have to stop myself and say all right, would a man think this way and would it stop him? If not, then I'm going to go ahead and do it."

That mindset has paid dividends for her own career, and led to Smith becoming a role model for so many.

"It's been amazing how many women are interested in coaching baseball," she said. "Not only that, but there are also women outside of baseball who have let me know how inspired they are and say they want to try for something different now.

"Just because you don't see somebody who looks like you doesn't mean you can't do it," Smith continued.

"And if somebody tries to stop you, you try even harder."