Michigan State football officially hires Jonathan Smith as head coach

Michigan State football has officially hired Jonathan Smith as its next head coach following a forgettable Mel Tucker era.

After months of speculation, it is being reported that Michigan State has found its next coach. According to the official Michigan State football X account, the school will name Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith as the 26th head coach in program history. The move comes after a lengthy process that was kept under wraps for the most part by both Smith and MSU.

A new era of Spartan Football is here!

Please welcome Jonathan Smith as the 26th Head Coach in program history.

📰 | https://t.co/cianmGIS3E#GoGreen pic.twitter.com/3lGTurivLF

— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) November 25, 2023

Jonathan has been a hot name in the coaching ranks after leading the Beavers to an 8-4 record so far this season. Smith has been the coach at Oregon State for six seasons. So far he has accumulated a total record of 34-34. In his last full season of 2022, he led the Beavers to a 10-3 record and finished the season ranked 17th in the AP Poll.

Smith played quarterback in college for Oregon State. In four seasons, he threw for 55 total touchdowns and just under 10,000 total yards. As a junior in 2000, he led the Beavers to an 11-1 record and won a share of the conference championship for the first time ever. They finished that season ranked No. 4 in the country. That season also featured his top receivers, Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh. In total, his playing career ran from 1998-2001. After playing, he took a grad assistant job at Oregon State where he worked for the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

After his stint as a grad assistant, he was offered the quarterback coach job at Idaho where he would coach from 2004-09. While there, he helped coach Idaho’s first-round pick Mike Iupati. From there he was hired as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Montana. Smith spent the 2010 and 2011 seasons in Montana before accepting the quarterbacks coach job at Boise State in 2012.

Smith was at Boise State for the 2012 and 2013 seasons under Chris Petersen.

In 2012, Boise State went 11-2 and won a Mountain West title. The 2013 season didn’t go as well when the Broncos went 8-5. Petersen left after that season to become the head coach at Washington and Smith went with him. Upon arriving in Seattle, he accepted the quarterbacks coach job and also was named offensive coordinator.

Smith was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Washington for four seasons (2014-2017). After completing his time there, he was courted back to Corvallis to take over the reins at his alma mater. He was born in California and is a West Coast guy. He is currently 44 years old so he has the potential to be the coach for a while and really build a program.

Who he is able to bring on staff with him will be key. Hopefully some relationships he has built will have some Midwest ties to aid in recruiting.

Smith is an offensive-minded coach and loves to run the football. Michigan State football historically has not gone for offensive hires so it’s good to see a different approach. The details of Smith’s contract have not been announced. It is expected that Smith will be formally announced as head coach early next week.

Welcome to East Lansing, coach. We are happy to have you here. Go Green.