Damian Smithhisler is in his first year as the head men's and women's cross country coach and men's track and field coach. He has experienced a great deal of success in his previous coaching experiences. Smithhisler was the head cross country (2001-2009) and track coach (2002-2011) at Kapaun Mount Carmel Catholic High School and assistant cross country coach (2011) at Derby High School. During his time at Kapaun, Smithhisler was named 5A girls state cross country coach of the year in 2003, 5A girls state track coach of the year in 2005 and 5A boys state cross country coach of the year in 2006. He led the girls cross country program to league championships in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2008 and the boys cross country program to a league championship in 2008. His girls cross country team took the state title in 2003 as well. Smithhisler has also seen success on the track taking the league championship for girls track and field in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. The 2005 girls track team claimed a state title as well. As an assistant at Derby, Smithhisler helped lead the girls cross country program to league runner-up and a 6^th place finish at state in 2011.

Smithhisler competed at Bethany College and then went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education with an emphasis in mathematics from Wichita State University in 2000. He and his wife, Katie, have two children, Colton and Braven.