The first head baseball and softball coaches for the new Christian County High School were announced during a news conference Tuesday afternoon at the Christian County Board of Education Board Room.
Dustin Smith will be the Tigers’ baseball coach. Smith comes to Christian County from Clarksville Academy.
Smith is a 1998 graduate of Clarksville Northeast High School. He went on to play at Austin Peay and was drafted by the Detroit Tigers. Smith played several seasons in the Tigers’ minor league system.
He returned to Northeast High School where he was head coach for 13 seasons and won more than 200 games.
Smith stepped down as Northeast head coach in 2017 for family reasons but joined the Clarksville Academy staff about a month later.
He was in charge of the Clarksville Academy pitching staff in two years as an assistant coach. Smith took over as the Academy head coach in 2019. He led the Cougars to a 2025 state runner-up finish.
Smith said he was excited about continuing the Christian County tradition and believes it will take community support to start a new tradition.
Smith said he isn’t going to waste any time getting to know his players.
Meanwhile, the Lady Tigers’ softball program will be led by Ashlie Ezell.
Ezell is a former University Heights Academy head coach and she served as the Christian County Lady Colonels’ assistant coach in 2026.
At UHA, Ezell coached for two seasons and accumulated a 10-20 record. She led the Lady Blazers to two appearances in the Region 2 tournament.
Ezell stepped down following the 2025 season and accepted a position on the Christian County Lady Colonels’ coaching staff as an assistant coach and middle school coach. She said she was excited to get started as the Lady Tigers’ first head coach.
Ezell said she already has taken interest in the youth softball program here and believes she will see the results of that hard work soon.
Ezell is a Falkville, Ala., native. She was an All-State player in high school. Ezell also is a coach for the Kentucky Chrome 2034 travel organization.
She said middle school tryouts will be held next week.
The final two head coaching positions to be filled are track and tennis. Those positions should be filled before the end of the month.
Photos by Joe Wilson