Rob Smith enters his second season as an assistant coach at Creighton, where he works as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. In his first season with the Bluejays, the pitching staff was the strength of the team as three of his players earned All-American honors on the mound.

Creighton's starting pitchers combined for a 3.48 ERA, while 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).