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MSU's Jonathan Smith Brings 5 Oregon State Assistants To East Lansing

New Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith has brought half his Oregon State coaching staff with him to East Lansing so far, and two MSU coaches from the previous regime could be retained...

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The new era of Michigan State football has begun. Newly-hired head coach Jonathan Smith has arrived in East Lansing and has already started working on putting together a new coaching staff in East Lansing.

Smith has spent his whole life living on the West Coast. Born and raised in southern California, he’s played and coached at Oregon State, and was an assistant coach at Idaho, Montana, Boise State and Washington. While he’s been proven to be an effective coach, many were skeptical about a move to Michigan State because he has never lived or coached near the Midwest.

Fortunately, a couple members of the Oregon State coaches joining Smith at MSU do have ties to the area, which should help him get a recruiting foothold in the Midwest. Below are two new Michigan State assistant coaches with ties to this part of the country:

  • Tight Ends Coach Brian Wozniak
    • Wozniak started at Oregon State as a graduate assistant in 2015 and worked his way up to tight ends coach in 2018 when Smith was hired there. Growing up in Loveland, Ohio (outside of Cincinnati) Wozniak played four years at Wisconsin from 2010-13.During his time in Corvallis, Wozniak coached three future NFL tight ends with the Beavers, two of whom were drafted. In 2023, Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave was drafted in the second round by the Green Bay Packers, eight spots ahead of former Michigan State wide receiver Jayden Reed. Wozniak has developed three-star recruits into NFL talent, and with his Ohio roots he should be able to land and develop local high school talent.
  • Defensive Backs Coach Blue Adams

    Adams has moved around in his career, but is a coach Smith prioritized to bring with him from Oregon State. Adams, a Florida native, played college ball at Cincinnati from 1999-02. After jumping around the NFL for six seasons, he became a graduate assistant at Purdue in 2010 to began his coaching career. He’s also coached at Northern Iowa and West Virginia, both of which are very active in recruiting the Midwest.
    • Adams joined Smith’s Oregon State staff in 2018, despite having no prior ties to the Northwest, and has done an exceptional job developing talent. While his most effective recruiting reach is in Florida, he should have no problem recruiting the Midwest as well. Similar to Wozniak, the access to talent in this area along with their proven development skills can make them very successful coaches at Michigan State.

In addition to bringing these two coaches with him from Oregon State, Smith has also retained three other staff members — offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik and running backs coach Keith Bhonapha. Smith will also bring with him head strength and conditioning coach Mike McDonald, director of player personnel Cole Moore and chief of staff and director of football operations Dan Van De Reit.

While these coaches and staffer may not have the desired ties to the Midwest region, they bring with them a proven track record of success. Furthermore, with West Coast programs USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon set to join the Big Ten next year, the door could be opened wider for Michigan State to bring in high school talent from the West Coast. These coaches’ experience recruiting that half of the country will come in handy for that reason.

There are still some big staff positions that Michigan State needs to fill, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. Adams is currently the only defensive hire, but with the budget Smith has been given for assistants coaches, he should be able to hire good defensive coaches who have midwestern ties.

There’s also been reports that Michigan State wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins and secondary coach/former interim head coach Harlon Barnett could be retained by Smith. Those decisions are not set in stone, but keeping Hawkins and Barnett on staff could help ease Smith’s transition from the Northwest to the Midwest. Regardless of how that plays out, Smith is off to a strong start with his coaching staff.

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