Successful Arizona assistant football coaches Jeff Hammerschmidt, Tim Kish and Rod Smith all took their lumps at Indiana, but were able to rescue their careers by leaving the once-floundering Hoosiers football program that is now, amazingly, a 16-0 national champion.
Arizona Wildcats quarterbacks coach Rod Smith, left, takes a swipe at the ball while quarterback Anu Solomon (12) runs a drill during practice at Sancet Stadium on Aug. 12, 2016, in Tucson.
In 2002, Kish became an assistant coach on Gerry DiNardo’s IU teams that would go 8-27. Everybody got fired. Kish, who went on to be Arizona's defensive coordinator and interim head coach, found the UA as a landing spot to rescue his career. He is now the president of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the College Football Hall of Fame.
In 1998, Hammerschmidt, an All-Pac-10 safety at Arizona in 1989, joined Cam Cameron’s coaching staff at Indiana. The Hoosiers went 18-37. Hammerschmidt revived his career by coaching Stanford, and in the NFL, coaching five years for the New York Jets, as well as at Syracuse and Colorado State. He is now a sales rep for an online sports sponsorship program for high school football teams.
In 2011, Smith was the QBs coach for Indiana coach Kevin Wilson. The Hoosiers went 1-11. Fortunately for Smith, he was hired by Rich Rodriguez, his old coach at Michigan, to be the offensive coordinator at Arizona for seven years. Smith is now the QBs coach at Marshall.
For decades, assistant football coaches couldn't distance themselves from Indiana quickly enough. Now the Hoosiers are No. 1. Hard to believe.
