By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — Pass Christian head baseball coach Ricky Smith is set to become the next Athletics Director at Gulfport High School.

According to sources close to the situation, Smith is on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the Gulfport School District School Board and is expected to accept the position, pending board approval.

Smith is also currently the AD at Pass High, and has served in the dual role of that and head baseball coach for the past five years. He would assume his new post at GHS after the current PCHS baseball season comes to an end.

He is currently in his eighth season at the helm of the Pirates on the diamond, and he is approaching 100 wins during his tenure.

Smith is a 2000 graduate of George County High School, and is in the process of wrapping up a quarter of a decade as a baseball coach in South Mississippi, including 14 as a head coach after he previously served six seasons in that capacity at Bay High.

He has guided the Pirates to the second round of the Class 4A South State playoffs for the past five straight seasons, one of the most successful stretches in program history.

Smith was a standout baseball player in Lucedale during his prep days, and then went on to excel on the next level at both Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College as well as Mobile College.

Smith will replace Matt Walters as AD at Gulfport, who has served in that role for the past three years.

It is expected that current PCHS head football coach Jeff Stockstill will step in as Pirates A.D., while also remaining in his same role on the gridiron.

Meanwhile, Smith becomes the third Gulfport A.D. in the past five years. Prior to Walters, Gulfport native Bryan Caldwell served in the post for 10 years.