Drake University Director of Athletics
Brian Hardin announced the elevation of
Steve Smith to head coach of the Drake women's golf program on May 24, 2022. Smith was appointed interim head coach on Feb. 18, 2022, with 33 years of coaching experience at his disposal.
Under Smith's leadership in 2022, the Bulldogs recorded their best finish (third place) at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship since 2010. Smith also led the Bulldogs to back-to-back third-place finishes at the MVC Championship in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, before recording a fourth-place finish in 2025-26. Prior to the 2025-26 MVC Championship, however, the Bulldogs finished in first place out of ten teams in their final regular season tournament: Stampede at the Creek.
Smith coached
Kristen Giles to become just the second Bulldog women's golfer to win the MVC Championship and represent Drake, and the MVC, as an individual at the 2022 NCAA Division I Stillwater Regional. In the season's final tune-up prior to the MVC Championship, the Bulldogs tied for first at the Redbird Spring Invitational on April 9.
Smith began as an assistant golf professional at Hyperion Field Club in April of 2020. Prior to that, he was the head boys and girls golf coach as well as a teacher at Johnston High School from 1991-2020, earning District Coach of the Year honors on five occasions. In 2018, Smith was nominated for National Coach of the Year by the Iowa High School Golf Coach Association.
Smith's first coaching position was from 1987-1991, when he was the head girls' golf coach at Norwalk High School. Smith was an all-conference golfer in 1985 and 1986 at Truman State University.
