Rod Smith (born February 22, 1973) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player who is currently the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

. Smith previously served as the interim head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Jacksonville State and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Playing career

Smith played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Glenville State College Glenville State University (GSU) is a public college in Glenville, West Virginia, United States. History Glenville State University was founded in 1872 as a branch of West Virginia Normal School. It became known as "Glenville State Normal Scho ...

from 1993 to 1996, where he played for head coach

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...

Coaching career

After graduating from Glenville State in 1997, Smith was hired to be the offensive coordinator on his father's coaching staff at Franklin High School in West Virginia. He spent time as the offensive coordinator at both

Urbana University Urbana University was a private university specializing in liberal arts education and located in Urbana, Ohio. In its final few years, it was purchased by Franklin University and was a branch campus of that university. History Urbana Universi ...

in Ohio and

West Virginia Tech West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech, WVIT, WVU Beckley, or West Virginia Tech) is a public college in Beckley, West Virginia. It is a divisional campus of West Virginia University. History The college was founded in 189 ...

before reuniting with Rodriguez at both Clemson and

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

as a graduate assistant. He was hired by

Jim Leavitt James Pierce Leavitt (born December 5, 1956) is an American college football coach and former player. He served as the head coach at the University of South Florida from the football program's inception in 1997 until 2009, compiling a record of ...

to be the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

and was promoted to offensive coordinator for the 2005 season. Smith resigned from South Florida after the 2006 season to reunite with Rich Rodriguez at

as the team's quarterbacks coach.

Michigan

Smith was named the quarterbacks coach at

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in 2008 after Rich Rodriguez was named the head coach.

Indiana

After Rodriguez was fired from Michigan in 2010, Smith spent the 2011 season on Kevin Wilson's staff at

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

as a co-offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach.

Arizona

After Rodriguez was hired to be the head coach

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

in 2012, Smith joined Rodriguez's staff as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Smith was a nominee for the Broyles Award given annually to the nation's top assistant coach, after the 2017 season at Arizona.

Illinois

After Rodriguez was fired from Arizona in 2018, Smith departed the Arizona coaching staff to join Lovie Smith's coaching staff at Illinois. He was named the interim head coach after Smith was terminated on December 13, 2020.

Virginia

Smith was hired by

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

as an offensive analyst prior to the 2021 season, where he works with offensive coordinator

Robert Anae Robert Anae (born December 21, 1958) is an American college football coach and former player. Most recently, he was the offensive coordinator (OC) for NC State, a position he held from December 2022 until being released in December 2024. Prior to ...

. As of October 29, 2021, the Cavaliers lead the nation in passing offense. He left after the 2021 season.

Penn State

Smith was hired as an offensive analyst at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

in 2022.

Jacksonville State

Smith was named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Jacksonville State on June 12, 2022. Smith was named interim head coach for the

2024 Cure Bowl The 2024 Cure Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 20, 2024, at Camping World Stadium located in Orlando, Florida. The tenth annual Cure Bowl, the game featured Ohio and Jacksonville State. The game began at approximately 12 ...

after

resigned to take another coaching position.

Marshall

On December 21, 2024, it was reported Smith was named the offensive coordinator at

under first-year head coach Tony Gibson.

Personal life

Smith and his wife Charlene have two children, Alex and Sasha. Alex is currently a defensive back at West Liberty University's football team.

Head coaching record

‡ Served as interim HC ‡ Served as interim HC

References

External links

*
Jacksonville State profile

Illinois profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rod 1973 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arizona Wildcats football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Coaches of American football from West Virginia Glenville State Pioneers football players High school football coaches in West Virginia Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Jacksonville State Gamecocks football coaches Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches People from Franklin, West Virginia Players of American football from West Virginia South Florida Bulls football coaches Urbana Blue Knights football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches West Virginia Tech Golden Bears football coaches