College Coaches Skills Camp
Featuring Rob Smith
Rob Smith enters his fourth season as an assistant coach at Creighton, where he
works as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. In his first two seasons
with the Bluejays, he has coached three All-Americans, one freshman
All-American, six all-MVC selections, two MVC Newcomer of the Year awards and
had two players drafted by Major League teams. Smith's pitching staff has
combined for a 3.71 ERA since he joined the Creighton staff, good for 11th in
the nation.
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).