His pitch is off the plate, but Louisville basketball's Nolan Smith is settling in at home

Brett Dawson, Louisville Courier Journal
·2 min read
University of Louisville assistant basketball coach Nolan Smith speaks to the media after throwing out the first pitch at the Louisville Bats game. Throwing up the "L" in the background are the Wolves, a youth traveling baseball team. April 21, 2022
University of Louisville assistant basketball coach Nolan Smith speaks to the media after throwing out the first pitch at the Louisville Bats game. Throwing up the "L" in the background are the Wolves, a youth traveling baseball team. April 21, 2022
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Nolan Smith threw maybe 15 pitches of practice, and already, his arm was sore.

So he's not Nolan Ryan.The Louisville basketball assistant coach lacks the heat and the control, as evidence by the ceremonial first pitch he tossed before Thursday's Louisville Bats game against the Iowa Cubs at Slugger Field.

But Smith came to the Cardinals to make a different sort of pitch — college basketball recruiting season heats up again this weekend — and he's more concerned with a different kind of home.

More: Louisville basketball is upping assistants' pay. Here's what Danny Manning will make

Born in Louisville, the son of late former Cards star Derek Smith, the 33-year-old former Duke assistant is on comfortable turf.

"It feels great," Smith said near the third-base dugout after his first pitch. "I keep saying it, but I feel like I haven't stopped smiling since I touched down in Louisville. I'm really home, and I feel it. The love here in the city has been amazing."

Smith listed that love among the best parts of returning to Louisville. Right up with "going to all the great restaurants here." He's been by his childhood home. He couldn't walk off the field Thursday without posing for pictures or shaking hands with well-wishers.

Of course not everyone is a fan. His pitch — wide and short of the plate — drew a boo or two from the fans in the stands.

"That boo was definitely warranted," Smith said. "It wasn't the best throw."

Smith, too, is about to veer away from home. He'll hit the road this weekend, the second open recruiting period since he arrived at U of L.

University of Louisville assistant basketball coach Nolan Smith threw out the first pitch at the Louisville Bats game. Nolan's father Derek played for the University on the 1986 National Championship team. April 21, 2022
University of Louisville assistant basketball coach Nolan Smith threw out the first pitch at the Louisville Bats game. Nolan's father Derek played for the University on the 1986 National Championship team. April 21, 2022

More: Ex-Kansas star, Wake Forest coach Danny Manning joins Louisville basketball staff

It'll be the Cardinals' first road weekend with a three-man staff. Head coach Kenny Payne still has an assistant job to fill, but newest hire Danny Manning with join Payne and Smith on the road this weekend.

Smith called Manning — a former head coach at Tulsa and Wake Forest and the all-time scoring leader at Kansas — "a living legend" and said the staff was excited for players to see "almost our full staff."

All three coaches, Smith said, will spend some time in Indianapolis, where Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League plays this weekend, starting Friday.

It'll be a more comfortable setting for Smith than his lonely moments on the Slugger Field mound.

"It's further than I thought," Smith said. "When you get out there, it's far away. Shoutout to all the pitchers out there.Y'all got a tough task."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: He's no pitcher, but U of L basketball's Nolan Smith is right at home