RPI fires head coach Dave Smith
Rensselaer fired head coach Dave Smith this morning.
"Dave has dedicated himself to putting our team in a position to compete in the ECAC each year and we appreciate his leadership. As we move forward, we are determined to have our team compete at the highest level of college hockey," said RPI Director of Athletics, Dr. Kristie Bowers.
Smith finished his eighth season (including the canceled season in 2020-21 due to COVID-19) with the Engineers over the weekend, falling to Harvard in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. He posted an 87-152-19 record after taking over in 2017.
RPI said in a release that a national search is already underway.
Smith is an Ohio State alum. He began coaching in 1998 as an assistant at Miami and was also an assistant at Bowling Green and Mercyhurst before he became the head coach at Canisius in 2005.
He led Canisius to the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and the Griffins won the regular-season championship in 2017 before he took the RPI job.
Not really a shock. Coach smith was a good solider through post Covid but I think as the saying goes the record just spoke for itself.
I'd think they might have a replacement in mind, but this is the same school that needed a search firm to steer them away from their own alum, Ben Barr, who has since put Maine back on the map.
That said, I actually think Smith was a perfectly respectable hire. Too bad it didn't pan out.