Virginia adds veteran Power Five offensive coordinator to staff

Bronco Mendenhall and Virginia are adding a veteran offensive coordinator to the staff, according to Brett McMurphy.

This afternoon, McMurphy shared that former Illinois offensive coordinator Rod Smith had joined the Cavaliers support staff as an analyst. 

Smith, who has some solid east coast ties from points throughout his career, is a veteran college coach who has held coordinator titles at a number of FBS stops that include South Florida, Indiana, Arizona, and most recently at Illinois from 2018-20.  

He was instrumental as the quarterbacks coach for one season at West Virginia when the Mountaineers were led by Pat White at quarterback and Steve Slaton and Owen Schmitt at running back for one of the most exciting offenses in college football history. He followed Rich Rodriguez to Michigan where he mentored the quarterbacks for a few seasons before taking the co-offensive coordinator job for the Hoosiers in 2011.

At West Virginia, Michigan, and Arizona Smith served on the staff of Rich Rod, who recently got back to his play-calling roots as the offensive coordinator at Louisiana Monroe under Terry Bowden.

Early in his coaching career, Smith served as the offensive coordinator for a few seasons at Urbana (D-II - OH) and West Virginia Tech before going on to serve as a graduate assistant at Clemson and then West Virginia.

After the dismissal of Lovie Smith in December of 2020, Smith was appointed the interim head coach of the Illini for the final game of the season (which thye lost 56-21 to Penn State).