By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - After arriving at Missouri for grad school, Annie Smith stopped by Mizzou's softball field.
"I said, 'I'll go see if they need help,'" said Smith, recalling the beginning of her coaching career 22 years ago. "It kind of fell in my lap."
A former softball player at Iowa's Grinnell College, Smith so impressed the Missouri staff that she received an offer to be a graduate assistant the following season. The job paid $320 a month. Her rent was $260. Smith worked two other part-time jobs to help pay the bills.