CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — You may remember former Louisville and Parkland pitcher Luke Smith from a fiery moment that went viral in the 2019 World Series, a moment he spoke with WCIA about in 2020.

Now, Smith is back in Champaign in his first season as head coach at Centennial, coaching with the same passion he pitched with.

“I love coming to practice every day. I love working with the guys,” Smith said. “They’re the ones that make it enjoyable, you know, win or lose, if you can give me a good effort, I can live with it.”

The 2016 Centennial grad and a staff of other Champaign natives look to bring Charger baseball their first winning season since 2019.

“Baseball has always been a huge part of my life, wanting to continue it and, you know, try and give back to the community that gave so much to me,” Smith said. “Working with these guys and they come out every day and get the effort in that we that we ask them to, it’s very rewarding in its own.”

Smith aims to impart what he learned on and off the field to his players.

“There’s a lot of important life lessons you can learn in the game of baseball that are going to go much beyond just the game on the field,” Smith said. “The coaches that I had in my career instilled that in me, and now it’s my turn to give it back to the next wave of dudes that are coming through here.”

“He’s taught us things that we’ve never even thought about, like learning before,” senior third baseman and pitcher Madden Schurvinske said. “Knowing all the things he’s done and accomplished. We have full confidence in his word.”

The competitive fire Smith brought on the bump is something he wants his teams to embody.

“The competitive side of it is what I’m trying to really get out of them, I want them to go into every game expecting to come out of it with a win.” Smith said. What we try to do in practices is implement that competitive game-like situation so that when the game comes out, we’re used to it, we’ve done it every day.”