Greg McElroy: Jonathan Smith is 'as good of a hire as we've seen in the sport this year'

Jonathan Smith is the new coach in East Lansing as one of the earlier hires on the coaching carousel this offseason. He was also one of the best decisions by any program according to the opinion of Greg McElroy.

McElroy spoke about Smith getting the gig at Michigan State during ‘Always College Football’ last week. To him, his hire is right up there among one of the one or two best of the cycle. Part of that is because of his work in developing players while another is the success that he was able to generate over his six seasons in Corvallis, specifically their past two.

“I think this is as good of a hire as we’ve seen in the sport this year,” McElroy stated. “You look at just rank the hires, right? Jonathan Smith and Kalen DeBoer, to me, are, like, 1a and 1b. I love this hire for Michigan State.”

“(Smith) has done a great job of keeping a keen eye on the under the radar talent. He understands the player development piece,” said McElroy. “He also won at a program at Oregon State that most people thought was a very difficult place to consistently find success.”

McElroy also loves what Smith does on both sides of the football. First, offensively, the Beavers post four Top-50 offenses in his tenure, including two in the Top-40 in ’22 and ’23. Over the past three seasons combined, they put up an average of 412.1 yards per game with 192.6 of them coming on the ground at just over five yards per carry.

While that approach may take some adjusting in his new conference, it’s one that McElroy expects to fit right in within the characteristics of the Big Ten.

“He did so by morphing the offense into a pro-style, physical rushing attack,” explained McElroy. “You’re not going to be able to just run it down people’s throats in the Big Ten. It’s just not going to happen. The defenses are too good and they’re too proud against the run. But I think Jonathan Smith is one of those super-aware coaches that respects the opposition while still maintaining their own offensive identity. That’s a tough thing to balance – a really tough thing to balance.”

“I know this – I know Michigan State is going to be tough as nails on offense,” McElroy said. “I don’t know how much talent they’re going to have, how many points they’re going to have. But I can promise you that they’re going to be tough as nails.”

That approach should then help out a defense that finished outside the Top-75 three times over the past four seasons and has given up an average of just over 29 points per game since 2020.

“If you look at what they’ve been on the defensive side these last couple years? That’s been what’s most troubling,” said McElroy. “I think he’s going to have to retool the offense a little bit. And their offense, I think, is going to have to probably play a little defense from time to time. They’re going to play complimentary football, which’ll be really beneficial.”

Smith has his work cut out for him with the Spartans. An 11-2 finish in ’21 hides some of the fact that three of the last four campaigns have been losing seasons for the program. Still, after completing a rebuild at his first job, McElroy expects to see him do it again at Michigan State starting next fall.

“I think you have one of the best coaches in the country,” said McElroy. “I really believe that.”

“This is a terrific hire,” said McElroy. “I can’t wait to see what they look like, offensively and defensively. There’s going to be quite a few tweaks on both sides of the ball.”