Tyler Smaha - Associate Head Coach - Women's Soccer Coaches

Tyler Smaha

Title:
Associate Head Coach
Email:
smahat@ku.edu
Phone:
515-943-4003

Tyler Smaha joined the Kansas soccer staff as an Associate Head Coach in December 2023. Smaha recently completed his second season with the program in 2025. In both of his seasons at Kansas, the program has made the NCAA Tournament.

The 2025 season was a historic one as the Jayhawks made it to their third Sweet 16 in school history and finished the season with a 16-6-3 overall record and a 6-4-1 mark in Big 12 play. Kansas played in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in school history and in back-to-back seasons for the third time ever. The Jayhawks set new single-season records in goals (51), corner kicks (172), and points (154), while having the second most assists in a season (52). The 172 corner kicks were fourth most in the nation, the 52 assists were tied for the 11th most in the country, the 154 points were 12th most nationally and the 51 goals were tied for 14th most around the country. The 16 wins were also the fourth most in school history.

With a total of 19 wins away from Lawrence (road or neutral) in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Kansas leads the nation in road/neutral wins over the last two years. KU had nine road/neutral wins in 2025, which was tied for the most in the country.

Kansas made another run in the Big 12 Tournament in 2025, making it all the way to the championship match. The Jayhawks have qualified for the Big 12 Tournament Championship four times in program history and in back-to-back seasons for the first time ever (2015, 2019, 2024, 2025).

Smaha's second season in Lawrence featured many individual highlights, specifically by players in their second season in the system. Caroline Castans set a new school record for the most assists in a single-season with 15. Among her season honors, she was named an All-American, Scholar All-America and All-Big 12 First Team.

Smaha also coached the first duo of double-digit scorers in a single season in school history, with Lexi Watts scoring 11 goals and Jillian Gregorski finding the back of the net 10 times. Watts finished her senior season by setting new career highs in goals (11) and points (27). Watts received numerous postseason awards, including All-America honors, Scholar All-America and All-Big 12 First Team.

Smaha helped coach the Jayhawks to a Big 12 Tournament Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance in his first season at Kansas. The coaching staff was named Midwest Region Staff of the Year by United Soccer Coaches following the season after the team finished 2024 with an overall record of 13-6-4 and 6-4-1 in conference play. The staff became the first in Big 12 soccer history to win the tournament championship in their first year with a program and the third staff in conference history to direct a team to the NCAA Tournament in their first year.

The 13 wins were the third most by a first-year coaching staff in Big 12 soccer history. Ten of the 13 wins came on the road or at a neutral site. Kansas was one of five Division I programs with at least 10 road/neutral victories in 2024.

With only two weeks remaining in the regular season, Kansas had a 5-5-4 record and was fighting to qualify for the Big 12 Championship that was being held in Kansas City at CPKC Stadium. Smaha helped spark the Jayhawks to tie a program record with eight consecutive wins. That included four victories in the conference tournament, three of which came against the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, en route to winning the title.

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, the Jayhawks earned their first ranking of the season at No. 16 by TopDrawerSoccer. The ranking was the first for Kansas since the 2020-21 season.

Many players saw individual success in Smaha's first season as Kansas had four student-athletes receive all-region honors, one Freshman Best XI Team recipient, three All-Big 12 selections, two national players of the week, four Big 12 weekly award winners and four Big 12 All-Tournament Team members.

Smaha came to Kansas after spending the last four seasons working with head coach Nate Lie at Xavier University as an assistant coach, before he was promoted to associate head coach in October 2023.

Smaha helped Xavier qualify for the NCAA Tournament each of the last three seasons, marking the first back-to-back-to-back appearances in the tournament in Xavier’s history. The Musketeers won the BIG EAST regular-season title in 2021 and claimed a share of the title in 2023.

Xavier posted a 22-1-8 conference record over his final three seasons and had a 28-match unbeaten streak in conference play at the time of his departure, which dated back to the 2021 season. The undefeated conference season in 2022 was the first in program history at Xavier.

During his final three seasons as a part of the coaching staff, Xavier finished the season with a top 30 RPI ranking, marking one of just 12 programs nationally to achieve that. The Musketeers were also one of five programs nationally with five or fewer total regular season losses over his final three seasons.

In 2021 and 2023, Smaha was alongside Lie as they received BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

Prior to Xavier, Smaha was a graduate assistant at Fort Hays State University (2019-20) and a volunteer assistant coach for the men’s soccer program at Drake (2018-19).

Additionally, Smaha worked as a staff coach for both the Iowa and Kansas Olympic Development programs, and also coached on the prep level on both the club stage at Sporting Iowa and at Johnston High School (Iowa).

Smaha holds a USSF B License and United Soccer Coaches Advanced National Diploma. He’s also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Smaha attended and played soccer at Buena Vista University for three years, before spending his final year at Simpson College. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management from Simpson College in 2017 and a master’s degree in health and human performance from Fort Hays State in 2021.

Smaha resides in Lawrence with his wife, Kendall, and their son, Weston.

Smaha’s Coaching Career Highlights:
• Assisted Kansas in making its third Sweet 16 in school history (2025)
• Developed two All-Americans in Caroline Castans and Lexi Watts (2025)
• Helped Kansas win the Big 12 Tournament Championship and qualify for the NCAA Tournament in his first season (2024)
• Received Midwest Region Staff of the Year by United Soccer Coaches in his first season at Kansas (2024)
• Qualified for three NCAA Tournaments at Xavier (2021, 2022, 2023)
• Earned two BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year awards at Xavier (2021, 2023)
• Coached three BIG EAST Players of the Year at Xavier (Midfielder, Goalkeeper, Freshman)
• Developed four players who have signed professional contracts
• Helped Xavier finish with a top 30 RPI ranking (2021, 2022, 2023)
• Assisted in Xavier being one of five programs nationally with five or fewer total regular season losses over the last three seasons (2021-23)

The Smaha File
Alma Mater:	Simpson College, 2017, B.S. in Business Management (minor in secondary education); Fort Hays State, 2021, M.S. in Health and Human Performance
Wife:	Kendall
Hometown:	Des Moines, Iowa

Coaching Experience
Years	School	Role
2023-present	Kansas	Associate Head Coach
2023	Xavier	Associate Head Coach
2021-23	Xavier	Assistant Coach
2020-21	Xavier	Volunteer Assistant Coach
2019-20	Fort Hays State	Graduate Assistant
2018-19	Drake	Volunteer Assistant Coach