Ron Smeltzer is a retired American and Canadian football coach who served as the head coach of the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

from 1992 to 1993.

Early life

Smeltzer was born on October 29, 1941 in

York, Pennsylvania York ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populati ...

. When he was 17 he joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. After a four year hitch he attended

West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle ...

, where he played center and linebacker.

Coaching career

Smeltzer began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

from 1968 to 1969. He then spent two seasons as the offensive line coach at

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...

. From 1972 to 1977 he was the offensive line coach at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. While at UNLV, Smeltzer met his wife, who was an undergrad at the University. From 1979 to 1983, Smeltzer served as head coach of

Servite High School Servite High School is a private, Catholic, all-male college preparatory high school operated by the Order of Friar Servants of Mary on a campus in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area in Anaheim, California, US. It was founded by the Servites in ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

. In 1982 he switched from a veer offense to a pro-type passing offense led by Quarterback

Steve Beuerlein Stephen Taylor Beuerlein (born March 7, 1965) is a former American football quarterback, and is currently an NFL and college football analyst for CBS. High school career In his senior year, Beuerlein led Anaheim's Servite High School to the ...

. The team won the state championship in 1982 and 1983. In 1984 he joined the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

as offensive line coach. He remained with the team until 1986 when he followed fellow Lions assistant Bob Vespaziani to the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

. He was not retained by Vespaziani's successor

Lary Kuharich Joseph Lawrence "Lary" Kuharich Jr. (December 20, 1945 – November 13, 2016) was an American football Coach (sport), coach who was most recently the offensive coordinator of the Arena Football League's Columbus Destroyers. He was the son of form ...

and returned to the Lions in 1988. In 1989 he was given the additional duties of offensive coordinator. He was not retained for the 1990 season and instead became a full-time teacher and head coach at

Holy Cross Regional High School Holy Cross Regional High School, or "HCRHS", is a Catholic school, under the administration of CISVA (Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese) school board located in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Robert Dejulius (March 12, ...

. In 1991 he became the offensive line coach of the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

. On February 10, 1992, Smeltzer was named head coach of the

. His hiring came after Mike Riley, Tom Higgins,

Dennis Meyer John Dennis Meyer (born April 8, 1950) is a former professional American football defensive back and coach. An All-American defensive back at Arkansas State, Meyer signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1973, playing safety and punt return ...

, and

Joe Paopao Joe Paopao (born June 30, 1955) is a former professional Canadian football quarterback and coach in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Paopao played 11 seasons in the CFL and was a member of the BC Lions, Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Ottaw ...

all declined the position. He was the Rough Riders seventh coach in seven years. In his first season, Smeltzer led the team to a 9-9 record. It was the first time the Rough Riders didn't have a losing record in ten years. Following general manager

Dan Rambo Dan Rambo is a Canadian and American football scout, and executive who served as general manager of the Ottawa Rough Riders. Playing career Rambo was born in Libby, Montana. He attended Carroll College where he led the NAIA in rushing with an av ...

's departure, Smeltzer was given the additional role of director of football operations. The Rough Riders went 4-14 in 1993 and Smeltzer was fired at the end of the season. In 1994 Smeltzer joined

Ron Meyer Ronald Shaw Meyer (February 17, 1941 – December 5, 2017) was an American college and professional football coach. He is best known for having been the head coach of Southern Methodist University, the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts ...

, who he had worked under at UNLV, as offensive coordinator of the

Las Vegas Posse The Las Vegas Posse were a Canadian Football League (CFL) team, that played at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, in the league's 1994 season as part of the CFL's short-lived American expansion. Lasting only one seaso ...

. The club folded after one year and Smeltzer chose to remain in Las Vegas rather than uproot his family again. He was the lead assistant at

Cimarron-Memorial High School Cimarron-Memorial High School is a public high school in Las Vegas, Nevada and part of the Clark County School District. Extracurricular activities Athletics The athletic program that represents Cimarron-Memorial is known as the Spartans an ...

from 1995 to 2000 and helped lead the team to state championships in 1998 and 1999. From 2001 to 2002 he was the head coach at Coronado High School. He was the school's first ever football coach and lead the team to a 7-9 record. In 2003 he returned to Cimarron-Memorial, this time as head coach. At both Coronado and Cimarron, Smeltzer coached future Harvard and LSU quarterback Andrew Hatch. Smeltzer retired from coaching following the 2007 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeltzer, Ron 1941 births Colorado Buffaloes football coaches UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches BC Lions coaches Calgary Stampeders coaches Edmonton Elks coaches Ottawa Rough Riders coaches People from York, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Las Vegas West Chester Golden Rams football players West Chester University alumni Living people