Rod Smith is in his third season as offensive coordinator at Illinois in 2020. Smith was hired by head coach Lovie Smith on Jan. 19, 2018, coming to Champaign-Urbana after six seasons as co-offensive coordinator with the Arizona Wildcats.

"Rod Smith brings terrific and exciting offensive experience to our staff at Illinois," Lovie Smith said when Rod was hired. "His background and development of dual-threat quarterbacks and multiple-threat offenses is the direction we are going here. Rod has developed explosive quarterback play and offensive performance at each of his coaching stops."

Smith helped lead Illinois to the 2019 Redbox Bowl, the program's first bowl in five years, after two of the most memorable victories in Illini history. Illinois clinched bowl eligibility with a 37-34 win at Michigan State in the biggest comeback in program history. Illinois trailed 28-3 in the second quarter and 31-10 entering the fourth to tie the largest fourth-quarter comeback in a Big Ten game in the last 40 seasons by outscoring Michigan State 27-3 in the fourth quarter, including Daniel Barker's game-winning touchdown reception from Brandon Peters with five seconds left. Illinois' 27 fourth-quarter points were the most by an opponent in the 96-year, 544-game history of Michigan State's Spartan Stadium.

Smith also led the Fighting Illini to one of the biggest upsets in Big Ten history with a 24-23 victory over No. 6 Wisconsin on Oct. 19, 2019. Illinois entered the day as a 30-point underdog before Jake McCourt's 39-yard field goal as time expired sent Illini fans rushing to the Memorial Stadium field in one of the greatest Homecoming scenes in University of Illinois history. The Wisconsin victory sprung Illinois to four straight Big Ten wins, the first four-game Big Ten winning streak for the Fighting Illini since the 2001 Big Ten Championship team finished the regular season with seven straight conference victories. Illinois finished the 2019 regular season 6-6 and 4-5 in the Big Ten.

Smith engineered a huge turnaround to the Illinois offense in 2018, led by All-Big Ten running back Reggie Corbin. Corbin was third in FBS in yards per carry (8.5) during the regular season as Illinois leaped in the national rankings to 12th in rushing yards per game (+110 spots in the rankings), second in 40+ yard runs (+93), 51st in yards per play (+73) and 62nd in total offense (+64).

The revamped Illinois offense made the biggest improvement in the nation in rushing, averaging 137.4 yards more in 2018 than in 2017. The Illini averaged 243.0 rushing yards per game, good for second-best in the Big Ten and fifth on the Illinois season rushing average list.

Smith brought more than 22 years of coaching experience to Illinois and has coached in 10 bowl games. Prior to his stop at Arizona, Smith was co-offensive coordinator at Indiana (2011), quarterbacks coach at Michigan (2008-10), quarterbacks coach at West Virginia (2007), offensive coordinator at South Florida (2005-06), and quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at USF from 2001-04.

During Smith's tenure in Tucson, Arizona established a prolific offense, setting several single game and season records. In 2017, while helping the Wildcats to a 7-6 record and appearance in the Foster Farms Bowl, Smith helped lead an offense that averaged 41.3 points (5th nationally), 309.3 rushing yards, 180.2 passing yards and 489.5 total yards (12th nationally) per game. Wildcat quarterback Khalil Tate rushed for 1,411 yards (9.2 yards per carry), while completing 62 percent of his passes for 1,591 passing yards with 14 touchdowns.

Under Smith's tutelage from 2014-16, Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon completed his three-year playing career with the third-most passing touchdowns and fourth-most passing yards in UA history. In 2014, Solomon threw for 2,793 yards and 28 touchdowns, with only nine interceptions.

Smith coached quarterbacks under Rich Rodriquez at Michigan from 2008-10 and at West Virginia in 2007. He helped develop two of the most explosive signal callers in Rodriguez' offensive system, WVU's Pat White and Michigan's Denard Robinson.

Smith played under Rodriguez as a quarterback at Glenville State from 1993-96, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1997. He was an All-American and team captain his senior year. Smith received a master's degree from Urbana University (Ohio) in 2000.

Smith and his wife, Charlene, have a son, Alex, and a daughter, Sasha. His son, Alex Withers, is a freshman defensive back at West Liberty University in West Virginia.

Rod Smith Coaching History

Smith File

Hometown: Franklin, W. Va.
College: Glenville State, 1997
Family: Wife, Charlene; Children: Alex and Sasha
Years in Coaching: 24th in 2019