The Michigan State Spartans have found their next head football coach, prying Jonathan Smith away from Oregon State after a wildly successful tenure at his alma mater, the school announced Saturday.
The 44-year-old Smith replaces Mel Tucker, who was fired in September amid an investigation into sexual harassment allegations. Tucker’s former assistant Harlon Barnett served as interim head coach for the remainder of the season, in which the Spartans finished 4-8 and missed bowl eligibility for the second straight year. Barnett and the other assistants were reportedly relieved of their duties Saturday morning.
Smith, a star quarterback with the Beavers in the early 2000s, returned to Corvallis after the 2017 season with the program widely considered one of the worst in the Power 5, having gone 12-36 over the previous four seasons. He became one of the most widely respected head coaches in the country for rebuilding Oregon State’s program into one that was ranked throughout the 2023 season.
He went 34-35 over six seasons with the Beavers, his first head coaching job, including 25-13 over the past three years. Oregon State entered this weekend at No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but lost 31-7 at archrival Oregon on Friday. Smith did not deny the rumors connecting him to Michigan State after the game while Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes said this week that keeping Smith was his “No. 1 priority.”
Smith received extensions and pay raises at Oregon State in 2020, 2021 and 2022, but the Beavers’ future is murky as one of the two Pac-12 teams left behind in the realignment-reshaped conference. Smith had six years remaining on his contract, worth $31.2 million through 2029, with a $3 million buyout.
All but two of the Beavers’ seven total losses over the past two seasons were by one score, and all but two were to teams ranked in the AP Top 25. The Beavers also had several statement wins over the past three seasons, including a 45-27 throttling of USC in Los Angeles in 2021, a 38-35 comeback rivalry win over Oregon last season, and a suffocating 21-7 win over Utah this year.
Smith released a statement Saturday soon after Michigan State’s announcement, as did Barnes, the Oregon State AD.
Smith faces another big challenge, taking over a team that was routed in each of its four games against highly ranked opponents and with the Big Ten expanding next season to add some powerful programs.
The Spartans lost 41-7 to Washington, 49-0 to Michigan, 38-3 to Wisconsin and closed a miserable season with a 42-0 setback to Penn State.
Michigan State, though, has proven it can compete in college football.
Tucker won 11 games, including a New Year’s Six bowl, in 2021 when the Spartans were ranked as high as No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings and No. 5 in the AP Top 25.
Mark Dantonio won 36 games and two Big Ten titles in a three-year run that started a decade ago. Nick Saban turned the Spartans into a winner in 1999 before leaving for LSU.
Smith has experience taking over a team in turmoil.
He was hired after the 2017 season in which Gary Andersen abruptly parted ways with the school after a 1-5 start and with seven wins in 2 1/2 years. Interim coach Cory Hall was winless in six games that year.
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