Michigan State football: Momentum seems to be building for Jonathan Smith

Oregon State’s AD released a statement regarding top Michigan State football coaching candidate Jonathan Smith.

It’s that time of year where Michigan State football coaching rumors start pumping out faster than we can keep up with.

In recent days there seems to have been increasing momentum towards a connection between Michigan State and current Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith. The rumors were fueled even more when Smith gave a not-so-definitive response to a question regarding his position as OSU’s coach:

these are the words of a man who has been browsing the Okemos, MI section of Zillow for the last 72 hours https://t.co/amxP9qVV5A pic.twitter.com/K7oT0nrLiK

— sarge (@sarge__msu) November 22, 2023

Now that the momentum seems to be picking up, Oregon State’s AD, Scott Barnes has now issued a statement regarding Smith’s position:

“Coach Smith and I have had ongoing conversations for more than a month regarding his future at Oregon State and our path forward for football specifically and our athletic department generally. He has embraced our short and long term plans. My No. 1 priority is providing him with a new contract and guaranteed compensation that will help continue the success of the football program that has benefitted Oregon State University and Beavers’ Athletics. Coach Smith and I have also discussed our commitment to extending assistant coaches’ contracts and increasing the salary pool for his staff to retain the continuity of what they have all built together for Beaver Nation.”

Michigan State won’t acquire a quality coach without some negotiations and fighting for their guy. This response from Oregon State is exactly what you’d expect to hear from a program on the brink of potentially losing a head coach they’d like to keep.

Rest assured, if Smith is the guy Michigan State and Alan Haller are willing to go all in on, Oregon State’s final push won’t deter them. Smith and Duke’s head coach Mike Elko are the two primary names and current betting favorites to wind up in East Lansing. It appeared to be 50/50 prior to yesterday’s smoke increasing surrounding Smith. Duke will likely released a similar statement regarding Elko in the coming days as well.

Michigan State’s 247Sports insider Justin Thind shared some noteworthy takeaways from the statement above:

“My #1 priority is providing him with a new contract.”

“We’ve had conversations for more than a month…”

They got Warde Manuel negotiating this extension over there?

That’s a long time to have talks without a signature. https://t.co/9XOQbEn74v

— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) November 22, 2023

Oregon State has had all season to get something done with Smith. It may be too little too late.