Rhonda Smith joined the Chargers staff as the program's second full-time Sports Performance coach in April of 2026. She currently assists Head Sports Performance coach Mitchell Schoenborn in working with the football team, while also running strength and conditioning programs for Hillsdale College softball, men's golf and women's swimming and diving.

Smith comes to Hillsdale with an extensive background in coaching at the collegiate level, most recently at NAIA Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio. From February 2018 to March of 2026, Smith served as the Gray Wolves' primary Strength and Conditioning Coach and also as Lourdes' Senior Woman Administrator. She was responsible for a massive overhaul of Lourdes' strength and conditioning programs and oversaw training for as many as 15 sports, helping the Gray Wolves to be competitive in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, including four NAIA National Tournament berths. During her time at Lourdes, Smith also served as the women's soccer program's Associate Head Coach from 2018 to 2021, and as an Adjunct Instructor in Lourdes' Exercise Science department from 2021 to 2026.

Prior to moving full-time into strength and conditioning, Smith had spent over a decade as a successful college women's soccer coach. Beginning with a student coaching job at her alma mater, Concord University (WV), in 2005, Smith got her first paid coaching job as an assistant at Hillsdale's G-MAC rival, Ashland, from 2007-10. After a successful stint with the Eagles, Smith moved up to Division I, where she spent time as an assistant women's soccer coach at Duquesne University, Youngstown State University and Bowling Green State University. Her success as an assistant led to two seasons as head women's soccer coach at Bluffton University in 2016 and 2017, as well as a role as Assistant Professor of Health, Fitness and Sports Science at Bluffton, before moving to Lourdes in the winter of 2018.

A graduate of Concord University with a Bachelor's of Science in Physical Education and Health, Smith also played four seasons on the Mountain Lions' women's soccer team as an undergraduate, and was a part of Concord's 2002 WVIAC regular season and conference tournament championship team.

Smith earned her Master's of Education in Applied Exercise Science from Ashland during her time as assistant coach with the Eagles, and has completed numerous certifications in the sports medicine and performance world. She currently resides in Osseo, Michigan, just southeast of the Hillsdale College campus.