Michigan State hires Jonathan Smith as new head coach

Michigan State hired Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith as its newest head coach. The Spartans made the move after a tumultuous season that included the firing of Mel Tucker amid a sexual harassment scandal.

Smith just wrapped up an 8-4 regular season with the Beavers to cap off a successful three-year stretch. He took over in 2018 and rebuilt the Pac-12 squad.

But now, he’ll take his coaching talents over to East Lansing for his next project: a Big Ten rebuild. Michigan State made it official Saturday afternoon.

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

Prior to the hire, Michigan State insider Chris Solari reported AD Alan Haller relieved the current Spartans’ coaching staff of their duties Saturday.

Smith went 34-35 in six seasons at Oregon State, including a 10-3 season in 2022 that finished with a Las Vegas Bowl win.

Smith was asked if he interviewed for the Michigan State job amid reports of him being linked to the Spartans’ gig following Oregon State’s loss to Oregon.

“No decisions have been made,” Smith said. “I’ve asked this team to take a locked-in approach for four months and that was a little bit of the conversation this week with so much uncertainty with the Pac-2 and what’s taking place. I’ve taken the same approach. We’ll go from there.”

Smith doubled down in his approach to tell his team to not focus on the outside noise.

“We’ve talked about outside noise throughout the year, and we talked to the team just a couple of days ago about a bunch of rumors and told them they had to stay locked in,” Smith said.

Smith was also asked about whether or not he’s communicated with Athletic Director Scott Barnes recently He also added that he wouldn’t go into the details of their conversations.

“Scott and this administration have done a lot to navigate unprecedented times and so we’ve met weekly and talked about that approach,” Smith said. “Not just for football, but the athletic department, scheduling, and all that, so it’s been a weekly conversation.”