Rhett Smeins

Rhett Smeins is in his third year with the Hawkeye football program and his first as director of football recruiting research and strategy. Smeins was the assistant director of recruiting from 2024 to 25.

During his first two seasons on the Hawkeye staff, Iowa won a combined 17 games, featured four consensus All-Americans, and saw its offensive line win the prestigious 2025 Joe Moore Award.

Smeins previously worked as a football recruiting analyst at Northwestern University. He was the lead on all identification and initial prospect evaluation for offense and also assisted with various on-campus recruiting events and recruiting travel. Smeins and the Wildcats won eight games and finished second in the Big Ten West Division in 2023, including a victory over Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.

A student recruiting assistant at Iowa State University, Smeins assisted with prospect identification and evaluation as well as with recruiting events.

Smeins also worked for Pro Football Focus (PFF) as a base data analyst for nearly two years, chartering play-by-play data for college and NFL games to facilitate PFF’s player grading system.

Smeins has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and economics as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from Iowa State where he was also a member of the Sports Analytics Club.