Rob Smith will enter his fourth season as an assistant coach at Creighton in
2010, where he works as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. In his first
three seasons with the Bluejays, he has coached three All-Americans, one
freshman All-American, eight all-MVC selections, two MVC Newcomer of the Year
awards and had two players drafted by Major League teams.
Smith's
pitching staff has finished in the top-14 in each of his first three seasons at
CU, including a 13th place finish to close the 2009 season. The group has
combined for a 3.95 ERA since he joined the Creighton staff, which ranks
15th-best nationally. In his three years, his rotations have allowed betweeen
just 214 and 219 earned runs every season, while pitching up to as much as 540.1
innings.
Last season Creighton was as high as seventh in the
country in ERA entering May after a three-game sweep at Illinois State. Smith
also tutored freshman Brandon Koenigstein who threw just the fourth no-hitter in
Creighton history, and the first complete-game no-no since 1971.
The
Bluejay pitchers have also showed endurance as reliever Jack VanLeur finished
the season tied for fifth in the NCAA in appearances with 36, while Bob Lackovic
was tied for eighth with 34.
In 2008, Creighton
finished 14th in the nation in ERA for the second consecutive year. The staff,
led by All-American and 20th round draft pick Pat Venditte while, also finished
16th in the nation for walks allowed per nine innings and 30th in the nation in
hits allowed per nine innings. Both marks were good for second in the Missouri
Valley Conference. The team also finished third in the league in
strikeouts.
Individually the Bluejays boasted the best pitcher in the MVC
in terms of ERA as junior Mike Nihsen led the league in 2008 with a 2.30 mark in
70.1 innings.
In 2007 the staff picked up 21 saves in relief to set a new
school record. Reliever Pat Venditte and starter Ben Mancuso both earned
All-America honors following the season after posting 1.88 and 2.34 ERAs,
respectively. The country's only known switch-pitcher, Venditte recorded a
stretch of 43.2 scoreless innings, was named the MVP of the MVC Tournament, and
set a school record for lowest ERA in a season. Mancuso had a team-best 10
victories in 2007 and he recorded seven scoreless outings in 13
appearances.
Smith also instructed freshman right-hander Casey Schmidt,
who finished 6-1 and earned Freshman All-American accolades. Friday starter Marc
Lewis was selected in the 20th round of the Major League draft after finishing
with an 8-3 record. Lewis was joined by Venditte, Mancuso, and reliever Andy
Masten to give Creighton four pitchers on the All-MVC first team. Masten was
named the league's newcomer of the year after finishing with 16 saves to tie for
second-most in the country. His 16 saves also set Creighton's school record and
ranked third-most in MVC history for a season.
Smith came to Creighton
after a five-year stint at Purdue University. Smith arrived at Purdue in the
fall of 2001 and spent the last five seasons training the Boilermaker pitching
staff. In his last season in West Lafayette, Purdue had its most wins since 2001
(31) and three pitchers were named all-conference. Three members of his pitching
staff were drafted, tying a school-record. In 2002, Purdue hurler Chadd Blasko
was picked in the supplemental first round, 36th overall, making him Purdue's
highest draftee since 1993.
Purdue's staff ERA dropped by more than 1.7
runs per game in Smith’s five seasons, going from 5.95 in 2002 all the way down
to 4.23 in 2006. The 2006 team ERA was Purdue's fourth-best staff mark since the
introduction of aluminum bats in 1974. Purdue's 2005 league ERA of 3.29 was more
than one full run better than any other staff in the Big Ten.
Under his
guidance, the 2005 and 2006 Boilermaker staffs each had strikeout to walk ratios
of 2-to-1 or better for just the third and fourth times since 1974. Prior to
working at Purdue, Smith spent two seasons as manager and general manager of the
Wisconsin Woodchucks of the Northwoods League. In 2001 he guided the team to its
first league championship, while also setting a franchise record with 37 wins.
His teams also set club records for ERA both seasons.
Smith played
college ball at Vincennes University from 1991-94 and earned his college degree
at Indiana University in 1998. Smith also served as a volunteer assistant coach
at Purdue in 1999, where he worked with pitchers, catchers and
recruiting.
He and his wife, RaeAnna, have three daughters (Sierra,
Serena, Isabelle) and one son (Tyson).