Just hours after both teams concluded their regular seasons, Michigan State hired Jonathan Smith, the football coach at Oregon State, for the same position on Saturday.
Smith, 44, saw his regular season come to an end on Friday night when No. 16 Oregon State lost 31-7 to rival Oregon on the road, dropping to 8-4 overall. Smith met with the Beavers team late on Saturday morning to let them know he was leaving for Michigan State, an insider tells ESPN.
“As I start the next phase of my coaching career, I would like to first thank all the players, coaches, along with colleagues I worked with for the past six years,” Smith said in a statement on Saturday. “I will treasure the friendships and memories. Additionally, I wanted to sincerely thank the OSU/Corvallis community for their support. I had no idea the opportunities and connections this community would offer my family and me when I first came as a freshman in college. I can never express my gratitude to each of you personally because of the collective impact you have made, but know that I will always be grateful.”
After six seasons at his alma mater, the former Beavers quarterback finishes 34-35; however, since the 2022 campaign began, he is 18-7. Oregon State went 10-3 and finished No. 17 nationally in 2022, earning him a share of the Pac-12 Coach of the Year award with Kalen DeBoer of Washington.
Lansing the Oregon State program from the ground up and putting a plan in place that led to the Beavers’ continuous and historic success, Alan Haller, the athletic director at Michigan State, said in a statement that Jonathan had a track record of success. “He’s coached in the College Football Playoffs, been a part of championship staffs, and learned from some of the most successful coaches in the history of the game what it takes to succeed at the highest level.” His teams are inventive yet tough and physical on the field. Oregon State, which leads the country in both rushing offense and rushing defense, has dominated the line of scrimmage this season on both sides of the ball.”
Smith’s appointment is anticipated to be announced early next week, subject to board of trustees approval at Michigan State.
After suspending coach Mel Tucker earlier in the month, Michigan State fired him on September 27 for an unspecified reason. After a sexual misconduct allegation was made against Tucker, the Spartans’ coach since 2020, by Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault awareness speaker who addressed the MSU team, the university launched an investigation. With almost $79 million left on the record contract he signed in late 2021, Tucker has started the process of bringing a wrongful termination lawsuit. Interim head coach Harlon Barnett replaced the outgoing head coach, and the Spartans concluded the campaign with a 4-8 record following their 42-0 defeat at Detroit’s Ford Field on Friday to No. 11 Penn State.
Before focusing on Smith early last week, the school took into consideration a number of FBS head coaches to succeed Tucker, according to sources. Smith is thought to possess traits similar to those of former MSU coach Mark Dantonio, a strong talent developer who led the Spartans to six AP top-15 finishes, a CFP appearance from 2010 to 2017, and competition against bigger brands in the Big Ten.
Smith, who entered Oregon State as a walk-on and led the team to 11 victories and a No. 4 ranking in 2000, spent four seasons as Chris Petersen’s offensive coordinator at Washington before returning to his alma mater. He also made stops at Boise State, Montana, and Idaho. In 2016, he assisted the Huskies in making it to the CFP. Although Washington and Oregon (along with USC and UCLA) will join the Big Ten in 2024, he is a native of California and has never been a coach outside of the Northwest.
“He’s shown not only his capacity to recruit talented student-athletes that fit his system but also how to develop and maximize players once they’re enrolled in the program,” Haller stated. “At his core, that he’s a quarterbacks coach, and all through his career has been instrumental in the growth of young quarterbacks, that is essential in modern college football landscape.”
After Northwestern promoted interim coach David Braun to a permanent position, Smith is the second coach hired in this cycle.