# Rod Smith (American football coach)

Rod Smith (born February 22, 1973) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the offensive coordinator at Marshall. Smith previously served as the interim head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Jacksonville State and Illinois.

## Playing career

Smith played college football as a quarterback at Glenville State College from 1993 to 1996, where he played for head coach Rich Rodriguez.

## 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 in Ohio and West Virginia Tech before reuniting with Rodriguez at both Clemson and West Virginia as a graduate assistant. He was hired by Jim Leavitt to be the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at South Florida 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 West Virginia as the team's quarterbacks coach.

### Michigan

Smith was named the quarterbacks coach at Michigan 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 as a co-offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach.

### Arizona

After Rodriguez was hired to be the head coach Arizona 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 as an offensive analyst prior to the 2021 season, where he works with offensive coordinator Robert Anae. 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 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 after Rich Rodriguez resigned to take another coaching position.

### Marshall

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

| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs |
| Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten Conference) (2020) ||||||
| 2020 | Illinois | 0–1‡ | 0–1 | 7th (West) | |
| Illinois: | Illinois: | 0–1 | 0–1 | ‡ Served as interim HC | ‡ Served as interim HC | ‡ Served as interim HC |
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks (Conference USA) (2024) ||||||
| 2024 | Jacksonville State | 0–1‡ | | | L Cure |
| Jacksonville State: | Jacksonville State: | 0–1 | | ‡ Served as interim HC | ‡ Served as interim HC | ‡ Served as interim HC |
| Total: | Total: | 0–2 | | | | |