Kelly Smith, Head Coach

     As Coach Smith begins his 18th and final season at the helm for the Red Devils, he is averaging 35 wins per season.
     Winning baseball games at Lower Columbia College, is not a new deal. Jack Riley, Ed Cheff, Scott Carnahan and Steve Farrington established and maintained that habit over the past 40 years and Smith, with a career (603-156) mark continues to keep the Devils at the top of the NWAACC heap. " Kelly ranks right up there with those former coaching legends," according LCC pitching coach Rob Hippi. " I played for Jack Riley and have coached with both Scott Carnahan and Ed Cheff. The common ground as I see it, is that no one player is special. They coach them all hard and in the end that is what earns them the respect of their teams. The kids know that they are getting better and that is their purpose in being here."
     Upon graduation from Mark Morris High School Smith went to Western Washington to play for coach Ralph Dick. A centerfielder with blazing speed, Smith spent 3 years in Bellingham and then moved to Washington State when Coach Dick became a Cougar assistant. Following a red-shirt season, which included a great deal of time spent in the weight room, he exploded on to the scene for legendary Coach Bobo Brayton's Cougars.
     In the spring of 1979, he led the Pac 10 in hitting with a .418 average, stole 30 bags, and scored 69 runs, to earn All-Pac 10 and 3rd team All-American honors. Drafted in the 13th round of the '79 draft by San Francisco, Kelly went on to play 4 years in the Giants minor league system, the last 2 of which were spent at the AAA level in Phoenix. After his playing career coach Smith was hired as the lead assistant at Portland State where he spent 7 years coaching in the Pac 10 under Jack Dunn. Kelly returned to Longview in 1995, following a stint scouting for the Oakland A's.
     In the 17 years leading the Devils, he has won 5 NWAACC titles, and had 8 runner-up finishes. All 17 teams have qualified for the NWAACC tournament and 15 have been Western Division Champions.
     Smith and his wife Lola have 3 children, Riley, Colin, and Shawna.

Grady Tweit, Assistant Coach

     Coach Tweit begins his 5th year as a coach at LCC He is a Red Devil through and through. Grady came here in 1997 as a 3rd baseman from Sehome H.S. in Bellingham, WA where he started for 4 years for coach Gary Hatch. Grady was early in a long line of Bellingham players to wear the Devil’s uniform. All of the boys from Bellingham that came to LCC played summers for Grady’s father, Murray, on the Post # 7 American Legion team.
     As a player Grady is remembered as a tough competitor who wasn’t afraid to get his uniform dirty. He led the Devils to a (40-5) record in ’99, including a 28 game winning streak. He played the whole season, every game, on a knee that would require surgery at seasons end. In 2000 he helped LCC to a 2nd place finish in the NWAACC tournament. Grady went on to complete his playing career at York College in Nebraska.
     Grady has been an assistant coach for 2 years at Sehome H.S. under Hatch, another summer under his dad, Murray, with Post #7, and a year with the Belligham Bells of the PIL, under current OSU assistant David Wong.
     In 2004 Grady was the head coach of the North Whatcom Senior Legion team and for two summers was the head coach of the Post # 7 Legion team out of Bellingham.
     Grady, his wife Alicia, 3 year old daughter Mackynlee and newborn son Gunnar currently live in Longview as Grady completes his B.A. in Social Work through Eastern Washington University.

Chad Wagner, Assistant Coach

Chad Wagner joined the L.C.C. coaching staff last season as the assistant pitching coach. Wagner now takes over as pitching coach for retired legend Rob Hippi. Chad was a Red Devil pitcher in 2007 and 2008. He was an All Western Division and All-NWAACC selection. He compiled a 16-1 record over the two seasons that he played here.

     After Lower Columbia Chad accepted a scholarship to pitch at Hawaii Pacific University. During the summer of 2009 Wagner rejoined Coach Hippi as a member of the Wenatchee AppleSox pitching staff in the W.C.L. Chad helped the AppleSox to the W.C.L. championship as he gained all W.C.L. honors. 

     Coach Hippi on Chad Wagner: “I don’t think Chad was ever late to anything in the three seasons that I coached him. He was the hardest worker on the staff.  He over-achieved as a pitcher with his work ethic, determination and competitive nature. He WILL make an outstanding coach."