The Rapid City Rush have announced that Dave Smith has been named the head coach of the Rapid City Rush starting in the 2025-26 season. Smith is Rapid City’s fifth head coach since becoming a team in the 2007-08 season. Scott Burt was the previous head coach for the Rapid City Rush, coaching the team to a 130-129-21-8 record with one playoff berth, where the Rush were eliminated in the second round. Burt has since taken a job with the Greensboro Gargoyles.
Dave Smith has coached at the collegiate level since the 1998-99 season. His coaching career started at Miami University (Ohio), where he was the assistant coach for two seasons. He then joined Bowling Green State University, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach. Smith continued his collegiate coaching journey at Mercyhurst University, spending three seasons as their assistant coach.
After seven seasons as an assistant coach, Smith made the jump to collegiate head coach. He started his head coaching career at Canisius College, where he spent 12 seasons. During that time, Smith brought Canisius to their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the 2012-13 season, where they lost 4-3 to Quinnipiac.
In the 2017-18 season, Smith was hired as the head coach of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Engineers. Smith has spent the past eight seasons at RPI, where he coached in 258 games with a record of 87-152-19.
Dave Smith’s Playing Career
As a player, Smith played in the AHL, ECHL, and IHL. In the AHL, Smith played with the Binghamton Rangers after playing with the Dayton Bombers in the ECHL. Spending five seasons in the IHL, Smith played with the Fort Wayne Komets, Detroit Vipers, Los Angeles Ice Dogs, Long Beach Ice Dogs, Orlando Solar Bears, and the San Antonio Dragons.
ITR 43: It's Winning Time – Inside The Rink
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