Once seen as a career pit stop - or worse, a dead end - Indiana football has flipped the script in a way few could have predicted. The Hoosiers, now 16-0 and national champions, are riding high atop the college football world.
But for a trio of Arizona Wildcats assistant coaches, their time in Bloomington was anything but triumphant. In fact, it was the adversity they faced there that ultimately shaped their coaching journeys.
Let’s start with Tim Kish. Back in 2002, Kish joined Gerry DiNardo’s staff at Indiana, stepping into a program that was struggling to find its footing.
Over three seasons, the Hoosiers managed just eight wins against 27 losses. When the staff was let go, Kish’s coaching future looked uncertain.
But he didn’t stay down for long. Arizona became a second act for him - first as defensive coordinator, then as interim head coach after Mike Stoops was fired in 2011.
Kish not only found stability in Tucson, he found a way to lead. Today, he’s still connected to the game, serving as president of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Jeff Hammerschmidt’s Indiana chapter started even earlier. In 1998, the former All-Pac-10 safety at Arizona joined Cam Cameron’s staff in Bloomington.
Over five seasons, the Hoosiers went 18-37 - not exactly a resume builder. But Hammerschmidt didn’t let that define him.
He went on to coach at Stanford, spent five years in the NFL with the New York Jets, and held roles at Syracuse and Colorado State. Now, he’s taken his football knowledge into the business world, working in sports sponsorship for high school football programs.
It’s not the path he might’ve envisioned back in the late '90s, but it’s one built on resilience and reinvention.
Then there’s Rod Smith, who coached quarterbacks at Indiana in 2011 under Kevin Wilson. That Hoosier squad finished a brutal 1-11.
But Smith had a lifeline - Rich Rodriguez, his former boss at Michigan, brought him to Arizona as offensive coordinator. For seven years in Tucson, Smith helped shape the Wildcats' attack, developing quarterbacks and calling plays in the high-tempo system Rodriguez made famous.
Today, Smith is the quarterbacks coach at Marshall, still doing what he does best: mentoring signal-callers and helping offenses find rhythm.
What ties all three of these coaches together - beyond their Arizona connections - is the way they turned tough stints at Indiana into stepping stones. At the time, Indiana football was a hard sell.
Wins were scarce, and patience even scarcer. For assistant coaches, it was often a place to rebuild your career after the fact, not during.
But that’s what makes Indiana’s current success so remarkable. The same program that once served as a cautionary tale is now the gold standard in college football.
It’s a full-circle moment, especially for those who once wore the crimson and cream during the lean years. For Kish, Hammerschmidt, and Smith, their Indiana experience didn’t define them - but it did shape them. And now, as the Hoosiers sit atop the college football mountain, the journey of these three former assistants serves as a reminder of just how unpredictable - and redemptive - the coaching life can be.