He previously served as the founding head coach of the Florida Gulf Coast women's basketball team from 2002 to 2024.

Born in Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio, Smesko played point guard for Revere High School.

He played well enough to garner interest from a small college in Oakland, California, but he chose to attend Kent State University.

[2] While at Kent State, pursuing a communications degree, Smesko attempted to walk on to the basketball team but initially was unsuccessful.

[2][3] Smesko started coaching boys' basketball at his alma mater, Revere High School, while still in college.

He assisted the head coach with weight room and workout sessions for the players, as well as tape analysis.

The players approached the athletic director of Walsh, Jim Dennison, to push him to name Smesko to the head coaching position.

The team assumed they needed a win to earn the automatic bid to the Division II tournament, so the players left to head home for spring break.

Smesko's father did not consider making the drive to attend the tournament, held in Sioux City, Iowa.

The team defeated Doane College in the semi-final, then faced Mary Hardin-Baylor in the championship game.

The plans at the time were to start as an NAIA program, while applying for NCAA Division II status.

Despite the challenges, Smesko accepted the position, and spent the next year working out of the school's trailer to build a program from scratch.